Yanlan Mao

Abstract Organs have a distinctive yet often overlooked spatial arrangement in the body1,2,3,4,5. We propose that there is a logic to the shape of an organ and its proximity to its neighbours. Here, by using volumetric scans of many Drosophila melanogaster flies, we develop methods to quantify three-dimensional features of organ shape, position and interindividual variability.

Two new Brillouin microscopes leverage line-scanning to overcome previous limitations of the technique, enabling fast imaging, with low phototoxicity, of mechanical properties in living embryos of model organisms and tumor spheroids. A growing body of evidence has shown the importance of cell and tissue mechanical properties and their interplay with the environment. Mechanical forces can affect several cellular properties, including proliferation, shape, differentiation, apoptosis and sorting.

Abstract The collective behaviour of cells in epithelial tissues is dependent on their mechanical properties. However, the contribution of tissue mechanics to wound healing in vivo remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate the relationship between tissue mechanics and wound healing in live Drosophila wing imaginal discs and show that by tuning epithelial cell junctional tension, we can systematically alter the rate of wound healing.