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Self-Organization of Multicellular Systems
Self-Organization of Multicellular Systems
Welcome to our group webpage! We are a joint research group between the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems (MPI-PKS) and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG), based at the Center for Systems Biology Dresden (CSBD), established in 2021.
We are theorists, but we closely collaborate with experimentalists, at MPI-CBG and beyond, on problems in theoretical biophysics, applied mathematics, and soft matter physics. Read more about our research.
Looking for a PhD or postdoc position? Read more about how to join us.
Latest Research
(Un)buckling mechanics of epithelial monolayers under compression
Chandraniva Guha Ray and Pierre A. Haas#, arXiv (2024)
When cell sheets fold during development, their apical or basal surfaces constrict and cell shapes approach the geometric singularity in which these surfaces vanish. Here, we reveal the mechanical consequences of this geometric singularity for tissue folding in a minimal vertex model of an epithelial monolayer. In simulations of the buckling of the epithelium under compression and numerical solutions of the corresponding continuum model, we discover an "unbuckling" bifurcation: At large compression, the buckling amplitude can decrease with increasing compression. By asymptotic solution of the continuum equations, we reveal that this bifurcation comes with a large stiffening of the epithelium. Our results thus provide the mechanical basis for absorption of compressive stresses by tissue folds such as the cephalic furrow during germband extension in Drosophila.