The mechanical basis of morphogenesis?

Add to your list(s) Download to your calendar using vCal

• John Biggins, Cavendish
• Thursday 10 December 2015, 13:45-15:00
• Theory Library.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Mike Gunn.

The development of an adult organism from a single cell requires complex shapes to emerge from simple ones. In this talk I will discuss a growing body of evidence that the shapes of biological organs are often sculpted directly by mechanical forces rather than relying on chemical pre-patterning. In particular, I will discuss the elastically driven formation of cusped furrows at the boundary of any sufficiently compressed soft solid. I will then outline recent results showing these furrows underpin the morphogenesis of villi in the gut, my own work linking them to sulci in the brain, and speculate about their role in the spread of esophageal cancer.

This talk is part of the Theoretical Physics Seminars series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Bham Talks
• Theoretical Physics Seminars
• Theory Library
• What's on in Physics?

Note that ex-directory lists are not shown.