Fluorescence microscopy image of tissue barrier

Barrier Force

Signal Integration and Forces – from Molecular-Scale to Tissue-Level Understanding

About BarrierForce

BarrierForce is a Research Council of Finland Centre of Excellence (CoE; 2022 – 2029). We combine expertise from five different groups, based in Turku and Helsinki, to understand how tissue barriers formed by endothelial, epithelial and keratinocyte cell layers perform their protective roles and how these are disrupted in disease. We aim to provide a comprehensive overview of barrier physiology and pathology across different scales (molecules – cells – tissues) with the ultimate goal of finding therapeutic strategies.

PROJECTS

BarrierForce CoE aims to gain fundamental new knowledge of molecular and cellular organ-specific barriers across the scales to address global health problems.

Recent Publications from Barrier Force

Monday, August 03, 2026 CoE-publications
Regenerative organs, like the skin, depend on niche-stem cell interactions that su...
Wednesday, July 08, 2026 CoE-publications
Cancers are complex cellular communities comprising tumor cells and their microenv...
Saturday, July 04, 2026 CoE-publications
Mucinous colorectal carcinoma (MUC CRC) metastasis to multiple organs, and to the ...
Wednesday, July 01, 2026 CoE-publications
Nanodiscs have become an exceptionally valuable tool to explore membrane proteins ...
Monday, June 15, 2026 CoE-publications
The blood and lymphatic vascular systems are regulated by angiopoietin (ANGPT) gro...
Friday, June 05, 2026 CoE-publications
Integrin adhesion complexes mediate dynamic cell-matrix interactions to regulate c...
Thursday, March 12, 2026 CoE-publications
Capping protein (CP) regulates actin-based motility by blocking monomer exchange a...
Sunday, February 15, 2026 CoE-publications
Increased extracellular matrix deposition and stiffness promotes solid tumour prog...
Tuesday, February 10, 2026 CoE-publications
The rapid, transient, and unpredictable nature of interactions between circulating...
Monday, February 09, 2026 CoE-publications
Understanding the relative orientation of protein secondary structure elements is ...
Monday, February 02, 2026 CoE-publications
Constitutive integrin endocytosis and recycling control cell movement and morpholo...
Monday, December 15, 2025 CoE-publications
Contractile actomyosin bundles, stress fibers, are important for cell migration, a...

News

Thursday, October 01, 2026
Read more about how it all started with fu...
Tuesday, September 29, 2026
The 2026 Körber European Science Prize has...
Thursday, November 20, 2025
It was a pleasure to host our Helsinki tea...
Saturday, November 15, 2025
We are very proud to announce that Sara, t...
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
We are very proud to announce that today o...