Collective Cell Movements: From Organ Formation to Material Properties

Synopsis

Collective cell movements play a pivotal role in guiding embryonic development, wound repair and disease progression such as cancer metastasis. The coordination of these cellular behaviours is significantly influenced by mechanical forces. Additionally, many tissues exhibit soft and deformable characteristics. This deformability is shown to be important for proper embryonic development. However, experimental exploration of cell and tissue mechanics within developing organisms remains to be challenging and costly. In this talk, I will discuss our research developing computational and theoretical models to investigate (1) the mechanisms underpinning collective cell migration during fruit fly heart formation and (2) tissue material properties as a collective response of cells.

* To request access to the videoconference, email dsivak@sfu.ca