Date: 30.06.2023, Time: 15:30h

Location: Kleiner Physikhörsaal N020, Fakultät für Physik
The talk will also be streamed online.

Organ architecture is often composed of multiple concentric tissue layers. Morphogenesis folds these layers into a specific shape that is required for organ function. Genetic signals that determine cell fate have been uncovered - yet the dynamic interplay of tissue layers giving rise to specific form remains elusive. We combine multi-layer analysis of cellular dynamics on evolving surfaces with physical modeling to obtain testable quantitative descriptions of how genetic patterning controls physics to give rise to shape.

I will discuss two examples:
(I) Quantitative analysis of organogenesis in D. melanogaster reveals how genes triggers dynamic molecular mechanisms to control physical processes.
(II) A chip-based culture system enables self-organization of micro patterned stem cells into precise three-dimensional cell-fate patterns and form. This system recreates aspects of neural tube folding, and indicates basal interactions between non-neural and neural ectoderm are required for tube closure.