Tissue mechanics and dynamics
Dynamics of an isotropic cellular network under an imposed pure shear deformation.
Between \(t=0\) to \(t=5\), a pure shear is applied to the network with a rate \(\widetilde{V}_{xx}^0=0.15\), after which the box is kept fixed. The cumulative total tissue shear (blue curve) is decomposed in contributions to the shear due to changes in cell shape (green), due to T1 transitions (red) and due to correlation effects (purple).
Between \(t=0\) to \(t=5\), a pure shear is applied to the network with a rate \(\widetilde{V}_{xx}^0=0.15\), after which the box is kept fixed. The cumulative total tissue shear (blue curve) is decomposed in contributions to the shear due to changes in cell shape (green), due to T1 transitions (red) and due to correlation effects (purple).
During morphogenesis, cells divide, die, rearrange, and flow to create complex structures and shape organs. On short time scales, cells maintain tissue mechanical integrity and form a solid-like structure, while at longer time scales, tissues can deform and relax internal stresses, thus behaving as viscous fluids.
I am interested in studying the active visco-elastic properties of tissues using both cell-based simulations and coarse-grained descriptions. The video above displays an example of a vertex model simulation under an imposed pure shear deformation.
Here are some of my works on the active mechanical and rheological properties of tissues: