Cambridge Morphogenesis Symposium 2026

Toward a predictive understanding of epithelial cell death: from collective effects to single cell decision. 

While the signals regulating apoptosis during development are rather well known, what sets the precise spatio-temporal distribution of cell death and the adjustment of cell elimination to local perturbations is not well understood. Similarly, how cells eventually engage in apoptosis and how the removal of cells from epithelial layers is orchestrated through cell extrusion remained poorly understood, especially in vivo. In this seminar, I will illustrate the multilayered regulation of cell death through three examples, the first one describing the impact of mechanical stress on cell elimination, the second one on local feedbacks that can fine tune the distribution of cell elimination in space and time, and the last one focusing on the engagement in apoptosis and cell decision taking place downstream of caspase activation. Altogether, I will propose a roadmap to build a more predictive understanding of epithelial cell death in vivo that will help to better understand developmental robustness, plasticity and clone evolution. 

Understanding the mechanical implications of cell division on plant development.

Plants grow by cell expansion and cell division. Cell expansion requires a careful balance between the properties of the cell wall and the forces acting on it, which come from turgor pressure and the other cells. Cell division changes the size and shape of the cells altering the overall structure of the tissue and the forces acting on the walls. While cell division and cell expansion are key for plant growth, how they influence each other is less clear. We quantify these two factors to understand the driving forces of growth and how it is altered in changing environments. We take an interdisciplinary approach combining the automated confocal micro-extensometer, atomic force microscopy, timelapse imaging, quantitative solid-state NMR and single cell transcriptomics. Our results show that shifting the balance of cell division and cell expansion changes the response to environmentally induced growth changes. We also look at how cell division changes the cell wall biochemistry, mechanical properties of the tissue and the pattern of mechanical stress. By comparing tissues with different cell shapes we have been able to determine the contribution of cell wall changes versus cell geometry changes during growth. Ultimately, the different processes of expansion, cell division, and responses to mechanical stress are interconnected; understanding these relationships enables us to predict and modify plant development.

Dynamic nucleus and cytoskeletal adaptations to tissue confinement in developmental cell migration. 

In vivo, cells often migrate through tight spaces, both in normal physiology and in disease. Landmark studies using in vitro cell culture models to mimic migration through tissues showed that cultured cells under physical confinement experience mechanical stress. This causes deformations of the nucleus, which in vitro also lead to loss of nucleus integrity and DNA damage. The consequences of confinement on developmental cell migration remain mostly unexplored, as these are difficult to both visualise and functionally dissect in vivo.  My team is now overcoming these challenges using the Zebrafish. Zebrafish embryos are translucent, allowing us to visualise and genetically or mechanically manipulate cells migrating in their native environment. My current research broadly focuses on two themes: understanding the consequences of nuclear deformation on long-lived multipotent stem cells, the neural crest; dissecting the cytoskeletal regulatory mechanisms underlying in vivo cell migration under confinement. We have recently discovered that, despite encountering challenging environments in vivo that impose striking deformations on their nucleus, neural crest respond adaptively by reorganising their nuclear envelope composition, likely preventing DNA damage. Migrating neural crestengage a microtubule motor-driven program, akin to nucleokinesis of central nervous system neurons,  to achieve efficient nuclear translocation through confinement in vivo. This suggests that microtubule-based nucleokinesis represents a fundamental strategy for navigating tissue confinement during both central and peripheral nervous system development. Together, our findings highlight the need for in vivo studies for a more complete understanding of migratory cell behaviours in native tissues.