Invited by the Ladoux/Mège team, Daniel J. Cohen (Princeton University) will present an IJM seminar on the theme:
‘Chiens de berger’ cellulaires: understanding and controlling collective cell behaviors
Collective cell behaviors are fundamental to the coordinated migration, proliferation, and decision-making of cells in a multicellular organism. Imagine if we could program these behaviors, effectively ‘herding’ cells to produce patterns, grow organs, and accelerate healing. Our research focuses both on developing an understanding of how collective cell behaviors work and how we can better control them. This seminar will present three aspects of our work: (1) defining the ‘rules’ of large-scale collective cell migration; (2) new bioelectric tools to interactively control tissue, organoid, and stem cell colony physiology; and (3) materials to manipulate collective cell behavior by targeting cell-cell adhesion.