BME Research Seminar - Optogenetic control of tissue mechanical forces during epithelial morphogenesis
Marisol Herrera-Perez, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Associate Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia UniversityAbstract Living tissues undergo dramatic changes in shape during development. These changes are driven in large part by contractile forces generated by the cell actomyosin cytoskeleton. A major obstacle to understand how mechanical forces shape tissues is the lack of tools for precise manipulation of forces in vivo. In this talk I will present a collection of optogenetic tools to locally manipulate cell forces in vivo using the model organism Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly). I will show how these optogenetic tools are well-suited for studying the dynamics of how contractile forces patterns are established and maintained during morphogenesis. In addition to physically shaping cells and tissues, mechanical forces can act as cues to influence cell behavior across multicellular tissues. I will share examples of how global and local perturbations to the contractile/adhesive activity patterns are associated with abnormal changes in apical cell shapes, orientation defects of cell rearrangements, and reduction of tissue elongation. I will introduce strategies to optimize these tools for quantitative manipulation of force generation during morphogenesis in vivo. Overall, these studies aim to shed light on the roles of mechanical cues in coordinating cell behavior both in development and in a wide range of physiological processes.Bio Dr. Marisol Herrera-Perez specialized in the study of cell-generated mechanical forces. As a postdoctoral research associate in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Columbia University working with Prof. Karen Kasza, Dr. Herrera-Perez has focused on developing optogenetic approaches to control the formation of shapes and structures in living tissues. Together with Prof. Stas Shvartsman from Princeton University Dr. Herrera-Perez also investigates the roles of mechanical forces on the control of cell division. She received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Colombia- Bogota, Colombia. She earned her Ph.D. in Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Purdue University and in collaboration with the Simon Cancer Center at Indiana University, she focused on understanding the roles on the tumor microenvironment on invasion of brain cancer.
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