Engineering self-organisation of tissue

Tissue morphogenesis involves collective cell movements such as convergent extension (CE): cells rearranging by intercalation to narrow and lengthen tissue. CE forms many structures (the main body axis, the inner ear, kidney tubules, long bones, etc.). Gastruloids are cell aggregates that self-organise, modelling embryonic symmetry-breaking and undergoing CE, but this is not well understood. In contrast to prevailing ideas of self-organisation going back to Turing (1952), our data say that cells’ simple mechanical reactivity may organise CE. This, in turn, implies that transient mechanical microenvironmental stimuli could be used to redirect morphogenesis. This project is to analyse gastruloid self-organisation in silico and in vitro to test and explore this revolutionary, yet highly plausible, idea.