All are welcome, (attendance required for graduate students). Lunch is provided.

Nandan Nerurkar, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University

The mechanobiology of morphogenesis: understanding how molecular cues organize forces that shape the developing embryo


With the emergence of synthetic biology and programmed morphogenesis as promising new fields of study in biomedical engineering, it is critically important to understand the “language” of morphogenesis. However, because mechanical and molecular analyses of embryonic development have largely been carried out independent of one another, we have only a limited understanding of how forces are prescribed by genetic and molecular cues to coordinate multicellular morphogenesis. Our group studies embryonic development as a way of addressing this, combining molecular and embryological approaches with live in vivo imaging and biomechanics in the context of gastrointestinal development. Understanding how molecular cues control forces during the emergence of biological patterns in the embryo has important implications broadly for regenerative medicines, and specifically for the prevention of congenital birth defects.