Physical forces regulation of cell shape during cardiac morphogenesis

Julien Vermot, PhD
Principal Investigator
Department of Bioengineering 
Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus
London, UK

Vermot Lab

This conference is hosted by Marie Kmita, PhD.

In person: 
IRCM Auditorium
110, avenue des Pins O, H2W 1R7 Montreal

About this conference
How physical forces influence morphogenesis remains unclear. We study the formation of the zebrafish atrioventricular canal (AVC) where cardiac valves develop to assess the role of mechanical and osmotic forces using zebrafish as a model organism. Using live imaging, we found that the AVC forms within a zone of tissue convergence associated with the increased activation of the actomyosin meshwork and cell-orientation changes. We will discuss the cellular and molecular mechanisms explaining tissue convergence and the role of physical forces in process. I will also introduce our recent method to visualize ultrastructural details in the embryo using ultrastructure expansion microscopy (TissUExM), which is a method to expand millimetre-large and mechanically heterogenous whole embryonic tissues. TissUExM is optimised to localize endogenous proteins and permits quantitative observation of macromolecular complexes in different organelles at super-resolution in a range of ~3mm sized tissue, using conventional microscopes.

About Julien Vermot
Julien Vermot leads the Biomechanics and signaling lab at the Imperial College London, focusing on the understanding on the impact of mechanical stresses during morphogenetic and regenerative processes. He obtained his PhD in developmental biology from the University of Strasbourg in 2003, where he worked on the role of retinoic acid during embryonic development. He then worked as a visiting scientist the Stowers Institute for Biomedical Research in Kansas City, USA, followed by a post-doctoral position at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena where he developed new tools to study the role of mechanical forces during development. He was Research Director at the French INSERM before joining the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial College London in 2019. For his research, Dr. Vermot has won numerous prizes, including selection for the EMBO Young Investigator program (YIP), the Career Development Award from the HFSP and the ERC Consolidator Grant.
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