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SUMMARY:Epithelial mechanics from the bottom up - Xavier Trepat (Institute
  for Bioengineering of Catalonia)
DTSTART:20230905T110000Z
DTEND:20230905T114000Z
UID:TALK203827@talks.cam.ac.uk
DESCRIPTION:Epithelial sheets form specialized 3D structures suited to the
 ir physiological roles\, such as branched alveoli in the lungs\, tubes in 
 the kidney\, and villi in the intestine. To generate and maintain these st
 ructures\, epithelia must undergo complex 3D deformations across length an
 d time scales. How epithelial shape arises from active stresses\, viscoela
 sticity and luminal pressure remains poorly understood. I will present dif
 ferent approaches to study the mechanobiology of epithelial shape from the
  bottom up. I will discuss new technologies to design epithelia of arbitra
 ry size and geometry and to subject them to controlled mechanical deformat
 ions in 3D. I will show that monolayers exhibit superelastic behavior when
  stretch is applied and that they readily buckle when tension is released.
  We use this phenomenology and a 3D vertex model to rationally direct spon
 taneous pattern formation\, and hence engineer tissue folding. I will also
  present our recent advances to understand the mechanobiology of intestina
 l organoids. We show that these organoids exhibit a non-monotonic stress d
 istribution that defines mechanical and functional compartments. From thes
 e experiments we conclude that the stem cell compartment folds through api
 cal constriction and that cells are pulled out of the crypt along a gradie
 nt of increasing tension\, rather than pushed by a compressive stress down
 stream of mitotic pressure as previously assumed. This experimental and th
 eoretical work unveils how patterned forces enable folding and collective 
 migration in the intestinal crypt.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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