Integration of biochemical and mechanical signals at cell adhesive contacts during mammalian morphogenesis: a quantitative approach using a minimal self-organized system – AdGastrulo

A prevailing dogma in the field of developmental biology is that growth factors control the differentiation of stem cells into functional tissues. However, this vision often obscures the fact that the formation of an organism involves the spatiotemporal rearrangement of packed assembly of cells.
It is thus crucial to understand how biochemical signals crosstalk with the cell microenvironment to control the spatial patterning of fate acquisition.
This project will investigate how cell-cell contacts influence cell fate acquisition during mammalian gastrulation, using Gastruloids, embryonic organoids that undergo gastrulation-like movement and gene expression patterns that mirror events in the embryo.
To this end, PF Lenne, V Viasnoff and A Martinez Arias will develop interdisciplinary studies by combining live imaging, mechanical and biochemical perturbations.
This approach shall provide a better understanding of the mechanisms leading to the spatial structuration of cell lineages at the single cell level.