🚀 New preprint on bioRxiv!
How do physical boundaries shape collective cell migration? We show that geometric confinement progressively suppresses ERK signaling waves and slows collective epithelial migration by pushing tissues into a mechanically compressed state.
👉🏼 doi.org/10.64898/202...
arxiv.org/abs/2605.23339
Very excited to be sharing our new paper, just out in Nature Cell Biology!
The big question we investigate: How do migrating cells put their front 🔴 and back 🔵 in the right place?
⚡ Our paper is now out in @natphys.nature.com !
This version now includes a detailed molecular characterisation of the optogenetic perturbations, new insights on the relevance of tricellular junctions for tissue morphology, and beautiful light-sheet timelapses. 🔬
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Adhesion-derived condensates control component availability to regulate adhesion dynamics
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Liu, Z. Y., Trivedi, V., & Heemskerk, I. (2023). Mapping morphogenesis and mechanics in embryo models. Nature Methods, 20(12), 1859–1862. doi.org/10.1038/s415... #EpithelialMechanicsReview
We present a new mechanism for triggering the flocking transition in epithelia, involving extensile polar defects and domain walls. Very happy to share this work, done in great collaboration with the @luizaangheluta.bsky.social group.
preprint: arxiv.org/abs/2605.23339
Every 3D tissue is a map waiting to be drawn.
Flatten a curved tissue, follow how it deforms,
find its hidden axis, or measure its shape
to explain how it moves: it's all cartography!
Video
🔬⚙️💻 Excited to share #OptiCell3D, our new image-based framework for inferring cell mechanical properties with high precision from 3D microscopy.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...
#ComputationalBiology #CellBiology #Biophysics #OpenSource
#OPENACCESS: Cells don’t just communicate through calcium waves; nematic cell alignment shapes how information propagates. Winterstrain et al. show that nematic defects can desynchronize signaling, with calcium waves traveling fastest when perpendicular to tissue orientation.
Collective cell migration is a fundamental process in morphogenesis, tissue repair, cancer invasion, and frequently occurs under geometric confinement in vivo. However, how confinement interfaces with...
Tissue phase transitions are key to morphogenesis. Now adhesion-driven rigidification is identified as key to epithelial organization but only if uncoupled from density-driven jamming.
Tissues rely on supracellular signals to coordinate their cells over a long range. Two such tissue-scale cues are calcium waves and patterns of cell-cell alignment or nematic order. During wound…
