Join Professor Celeste M. Nelson of Princeton University for a research seminar as part of the Force Talk series entitled "Mechanics, metabolism, and morphogenesis".

Abstract

Over the past half century, developmental biologists have identified several biochemical signaling pathways and genetic control mechanisms necessary for tissue morphogenesis. In parallel, biological systems must obey Newton’s laws of motion, and physical forces need to be generated to sculpt simple populations of cells into complex tissue forms. Inspired by the evolutionary diversity of the embryonic lung, we have created microfabrication- and lithographic tissue engineering-based approaches to investigate the mechanical forces and downstream signaling pathways that are responsible for generating the airways of the lung. I will discuss how we combine these experimental techniques with computational models to uncover the physical forces that drive lung morphogenesis. I will also describe how mechanical forces are coupled to energy metabolism to control the timing of branching morphogenesis within the embryonic lung.

Speaker

Celeste M. Nelson is the Wilke Family Professor in Bioengineering and a Professor of Chemical & Biological Engineering and Molecular Biology at Princeton University. Her laboratory specializes in using engineered tissues and computational models to understand how mechanical forces direct developmental patterning events during tissue morphogenesis and during disease progression, with a particular emphasis on the vertebrate lung. When she’s not thinking about lungs, Celeste can be found running, planning her next run, or daydreaming about tasty food to fuel her running.

Mechanics of Life Leverhulme DSP Force Talks Series

Force Talks is a seminar series hosted by the Mechanics of Life Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme at King's College London. We are honoured to welcome world leaders in mechanobiology.

The series aims to showcase the rapidly expanding interdisciplinary field of mechanobiology and mechanical forces. We welcome those from academia and industry to attend and take part in the discussions.

The programme is funded by the Leverhulme Trust doctoral scholarship grant "Understanding the mechanics of life".

Learn more about the Mechanics of Life Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme

How to join:

This event will take place online via Microsoft Teams. This event will take place online via Microsoft Teams. Register for this event to receive the meeting link and be notified of updates.

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