Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting | Singapore

Mechanobiology of Disease

Thursday Speaker Abstracts

Biomechanical Control of Tissue Morphogenesis Thomas Lecuit . Insitut de Biologie du Développement de Marseille, Marseille, France.

Epithelial tissues exhibit a remarkable dual property of robustness and fluidity. This operates on different time scales and relies on unique mechanical properties of the cell cortex and on adhesive interactions between cells. We seek to understand the fundamental molecular mechanisms responsible for this property. To that end we develop a range of approaches, from the genetic and pharmacological perturbations of molecular components, the quantitative imaging of proteins using a variety of photonic methods, probing of the physical properties of cells within intact tissues, and computational modelling of morphogenesis at different scales (molecular to tissue scales). I will present our recent progress in understanding how polarization of cortical tension underlies the dynamic cell shape changes and tissue morphogenesis. I will report recent findings delineating a novel GPCR signalling pathway responsible for the spatial regulation of cortical tension by the Rho1 pathway during tissue invagination and tissue extension. Evidence of mechanical feedbacks will be reported and discussed.

Muscle Specification in the Zebrafish Myotome Timothy Saunders . Mechanobiology Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore.

One of the central questions in developmental biology is how cells from an equivalent group commit to different cell fate. Here, we explore cell fate differentiation in the developing zebrafish myotome, where different muscle types (muscle pioneers, slow muscle fibers and fast muscle fibers) are differentiated from adaxial cells. Sonic hedgehog (SHH), BMP and FGF have all been proposed as signaling molecules playing a role in specifying muscle cell fate. Combining live imaging of zebrafish myogenesis with cell tracking and lineage analysis, we develop four-dimensional maps of the developing somite. Using these maps, we explore the specification and migration of different muscle fibres. In particular, we focus on the interaction between different cell types and how this effects the timing of cell specification. Our results suggest that robust cell fate specification in the myotome is effectively dependent on biomechanical processes as well as chemical signaling.

29