Hickory dickory dock: can mechanical forces control biological time?

Abstract

Development occurs as a highly coordinated sequence of events, whose order and timing are critical for the generation of tissue form. Branching morphogenesis generates the functional forms of several organs, including the lung, kidney, pancreas, and salivary gland, and is regulated in part by mechanical forces from pressurization of the fluid within the lumen of the epithelium. Synchronized timing of proliferation and differentiation are essential for building properly branched epithelia within each organ. This timing must also be regulated across the embryo to ensure functional maturity by the time of birth. I will describe our recent efforts to test the hypothesis that timing is synchronized across the embryo by mechanical forces that result from fluid pressure. Our data also suggest that mechanical forces can be used to control the rates at which engineered tissues develop. This work is supported by the NIH Director's Pioneer Award (DP1 HD111539).

Biography

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.