Mechanics and genetics of embryonic and tumour development

The Mechanics and Genetics of Embryonic and Tumour Development team studies the role of mechanical strain and deformation of macroscopic biological structures at the cell or multi-cellular scale, into the regulation and the generation of active biochemical processes at the microscopic molecular scale, including gene expression, in vivo. The group focuses on the coupling between mechanical strains and biochemical signalling in developmental and cancer biology.

The team also concentrates on the  evolutionary emergence of the morphological and biochemical patterns at the origin of the first metazoans over 600 million years ago. The experimental results of the team indicate it as a as a mechanotransductive primitive behaviorial feeding response of pre-metazoa multi-cellular colonies to environmental marine flow hydrodynamic strains.