How the shape of embryos and organs emerges during development is a fundamental
question that has fascinated scientists for centuries. Tissue dynamics arise from a small set …

The way in which cells coordinate their behaviours during various biological processes,
including morphogenesis, cancer progression and tissue remodelling, largely depends on …

The remarkable processes that characterize living organisms, such as motility, self-healing
and reproduction, are fuelled by a continuous injection of energy at the microscale. The field …

Precisely controlled cell deformations are key to cell migration, division and tissue
morphogenesis, and have been implicated in cell differentiation during development, as well …

Cells exert, sense, and respond to physical forces through an astounding diversity of
mechanisms. Here we review recently developed tools to quantify the forces generated by …

Animal cell shape is largely determined by the cortex, a thin actin network underlying the
plasma membrane in which myosin-driven stresses generate contractile tension. Tension …

The mechanical behaviour of cells is largely controlled by a structure that is fundamentally
out of thermodynamic equilibrium: a network of crosslinked filaments subjected to the action …

This review summarizes theoretical progress in the field of active matter, placing it in the
context of recent experiments. This approach offers a unified framework for the mechanical …

There is increasing evidence that both mechanical and biochemical signals play important
roles in development and disease. The development of complex organisms, in particular …

During epithelial morphogenesis, E-cadherin adhesive junctions play an important part in
mechanically coupling the contractile cortices of cells together, thereby distributing the …