Skill: nonlinear physics
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Defect-mediated spatiotemporal organization of endothelial cell tubes
The vascular system, a prominent example of an ordered system, is a dynamic network of vessels that are regularly generated via processes such as angiogenesis [1]. It is well-known that endothelial cell monolayers, which coat the inner surfaces of blood vessels, typically form ordered arrangements with mixed orientations. Misalignments in such endothelial cell monolayers, either…
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Electrohydraulic properties of cell assemblies
In addition to generating forces and reacting to mechanical cues, tissues are capable of actively transporting fluids and of creating electric currents. Tissues hydraulic properties are crucial during morphogenesis: for instance, mammalian embryos self-organize around spherical fluid cavities (lumens). Similarly, bioelectric properties of nonexcitable cells are crucial during wound healing, and suspected to play a…
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Self-organization of chemotactic cell assemblies
Understanding the self-organization of living systems is one of the biggest conceptual challenges of the present century. A generic mechanism that drives such organization is interaction among the individual elements — which may represent cells, bacteria, or even enzymes — via chemical signals. The ability of an individual cell to follow a gradient of chemicals…