Emulsions as a tool to study tissue mechanics in vitro and in vivo

Speaker: Lea-Laetitia Pontani
Institution: Jean Perrin Laboratory, Sorbonne University, Paris, France

Place: Jerónimo Forteza conference room, CIPF

Abstract: We use biomimetic emulsions to study the physical basis of collective remodeling during development. Indeed, emulsions made of oil droplets in water can be tailored to mimic the minimal mechanical and adhesive properties of cells in biological tissues. This reductionist approach allows us to study the mechanical properties of tissues in a simplified framework in which the inherent biological complexity due to intracellular regulations is bypassed.

We focus on the interplay between adhesion and mechanical forces and how this interplay regulates the emergence of tissue architecture during morphogenesis. To do so, we study the elasto-plasticity of these emulsions as a function of interdroplet adhesion through microfluidici approaches. We show that adhesion alone is able to guide the emergence of structuration in adhesive emulsions when they are submitted to mechanical constraints.

In parallel to this in vitro approach, droplets can be used to probe cellular forces inside biological tissues. Indeed, droplets can be made soft enough to probe forces exerted by cells or tissues: knowing their surface tension, it is then possible to quantify the local exerted stress from their observed deformation. We are currently using droplets to unravel the role of the extracellular matrix in the mechanical coupling of cells and tissues during morphogenesis.

PATROCINADO POR:  

With support from the Generalitat Valenciana, AMPER-07/2024 and CIAORG/2023/147