Related papers: Fluctuation-Driven Morphological Patterning: A Nov…
Morphogenesis in animal development involves significant morphological transitions leading to the emerging body plan of a mature animal. Understanding how the collective physical processes drive robust morphological patterning requires a…
We utilize whole-body Hydra regeneration from a small tissue segment to develop a physics framework for animal morphogenesis. Introducing experimental controls over this process, an external electric field and a drug that blocks gap…
One of the most interesting phenomena in the soft-matter realm consists in the spontaneous formation of super-molecular structures (microphases) in condition of thermodynamic equilibrium. A simple mechanism responsible for this…
Topological magnetic textures are particle-like spin configurations stabilized by competing interactions. Their formation is commonly attributed to fluctuation-driven, first-order nucleation processes requiring activation over a topological…
Thermal fluctuations strongly modify the large length-scale elastic behavior of crosslinked membranes, giving rise to scale-dependent elastic moduli. While thermal effects in flat membranes are well understood, many natural and artificial…
We study the role of noise on the nature of the transition to collective motion in dry active matter. Starting from field theories that predict a continuous transition at the deterministic level, we show that fluctuations induce a…
Understanding how the collective physical processes drive robust morphological transitions in animal development requires the characterization of the relevant fields underlying morphogenesis. Calcium (Ca2+) is known to be such a field. Here…
Topological defects are increasingly being identified in various biological systems, where their characteristic flow fields and stress patterns are associated with continuous active stress generation by biological entities. Here, using…
Morphogenesis emerges from dynamic feedback among geometry, mechanics, and chemistry; however, disentangling these contributions in living systems remains challenging. Here, we focus on the interplay between geometry and mechanics by…
The properties of a front between two different phases in the presence of a smoothly inhomogeneous external field that takes its critical value at the crossing point is analyzed. Two generic scenarios are studied. In the first, the system…
We measure different contributions to entropy production in a living functional epithelial tissue. We do this by extracting the functional dynamics of development while at the same time quantifying fluctuations. Using the translucent…
We studied regenerating bilayered tissue toroids dissected from Hydra vulgaris polyps and relate our macroscopic observations to the dynamics of force-generating mesoscopic cytoskeletal structures. Tissue fragments undergo a specific…
We report the structure of transient fluctuations in the liquid phase of a two-dimensional system that exhibits several ordered phases with different symmetries. The density-temperature phase diagram of the system studied, composed of…
A model of interacting random walkers is presented and shown to give rise to patterns consisting in periodic arrangements of fluctuating particle clusters. The model represents biological individuals that die or reproduce at rates depending…
Collective cell motions underlie structure formation during embryonic development. Tissues exhibit emergent multicellular characteristics such as jamming, rigidity transitions, and glassy dynamics, but there remain questions about how those…
Morphogenesis involves the transformation of initially simple shapes, such as multicellular spheroids, into more complex $3D$ shapes. These shape changes are governed by mechanical forces including molecular motor-generated forces as well…
Active contributions to fluctuations are a direct consequence of metabolic energy consumption in living cells. Such metabolic processes continuously create active forces, which deform the membrane to control motility, proliferation as well…
Since its introduction in 1952, Turing's (pre-)pattern theory ("the chemical basis of morphogenesis") has been widely applied to a number of areas in developmental biology. The related pattern formation models normally comprise a system of…
Growing experimental evidence indicates that topological defects could serve as organizing centers in the morphogenesis of tissues. Here, we provide a quantitative explanation for this phenomenon, rooted in the buckling theory of deformable…
Animal morphogenesis often involves significant shape changes of epithelial tissue sheets. Great progress has been made in understanding the underlying cellular driving forces and their coordination through biomechanical feedback loops.…