Tissue shape
Early organ primordial such as the limb buds and pharyngeal arches are composed of mesodermal corer that are surrounded by ectoderm. Our aim is to define the physical basis by which these structures morph by combining live imaging, physical measurements, and genetics in the mouse embryo. A current focus of the lab is how physical property gradients of stiffness and membrane potential morph the limb bud and heart by orienting cellular movements and extracellular matrix remodelling.
Some of the tools we have generated for this purpose include transgenic sensors of vinculin tension, ATP/ADP ratio, and membrane potential, magnetic tweezer and light sheet elastography systems to measure viscoelasticity, and endogenous reporters of fibronectin and YAP.