Critical points and transitions in embryo development
A new preprint on the PhD project of Lena is out on bioRxiv! Lena’s project focused on how cellular timing heterogeneity coincides with and regulates a tissue rigidity transition at the onset of zebrafish morphogenesis. She shows that cell cycle length heterogeneity emerges from the stochastic…
Our new paper is out in Nature Physics! This work focuses on how different control parameters regulate different types of tissue phase transitions, which in turn affect tissue organisation. By uncoupling transitions that are cell density- and cell-cell-adhesion-dependent, this work demonstrates…
The first paper from our lab, titled “Tissue rigidity phase transition shapes morphogen gradients,” has been published in Nature Cell Biology! The work explores how tissue-scale mechanics is linked to morphogen signaling and for the first time shows how these parameters dynamically tune…
A new collaborative preprint with the group of Bernat Corominas-Murtra, University of Graz, Austria, on how developmental timing of early embryogenesis is regulated across metazoans is out! We find that cell duplication of early embryos is evolutionarily constrained by the enzymatic kinetics of…
The new review from our lab exploring the roles of tissue phase transitions in embryonic development is out! The article focuses not only on the function of these transitions in tissue deformation, but also highlights their non-canonical role in shaping tissue reorganisation and signalling.
The PhD work of our student Camilla is out on bioRxiv! Camilla has studied how emergent collective properties regulate and interact with pattern formation by tuning the length-scales and time-scales of morphogen signalling. Congratulations, Camilla!
Adhesion-driven tissue rigidification triggers epithelial cell polarity”, is now on biorxiv!We investigate how the coupling of several control parameters used during a tissue phase transition impacts tissue organization at the morphological and molecular level. Congratulations to Laura and Cris!
This new review by Lena and Nicoletta discusses the impact of cell cycle dynamics on early embryo development. Many open questions arise in this long-standing field, which made this literature review very exciting to us. We hope you enjoy it too!
Camilla and Nicoletta review the role of critical phenoma in embryo development. Critical transitions may underlie many biological processes, like gene expression, cell differentiation and tissue mechanics. Yet, this field is only taking off recently in biology. Read more about it in the review!