From molecules to mechanochemical circuits

Cells within multicellular tissues dynamically modulate the strength of cell-cell adhesion in response to internal and external mechanical stresses to maintain tissue integrity and barrier function. A failure to maintain tissue structure under stress can lead to birth defects, heart disease and cancer. However, the cellular machinery that senses and interpret mechanical cues, and converts these cues into changes in cell adhesion are poorly understood.

We use interdisciplinary approaches in a range of systems to study this question, including tissue morphogenesis in the fruit fly Drosophila, cancer cell division and migration, and human iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, to link molecular scale changes in cytoskeletal composition and architecture to cell- and tissue-scale behaviors. We believe that investigating mechanical signaling in a range of systems could reveal unifying principles and key differences in how cells repurpose the cytoskeletal apparatus to achieve distinct outputs of force.