Alexander G. Fletcher

Modelling epithelial tissue patterning and morphogenesis

The study of tissue patterning and morphogenesis promises to shed light on a wide range of developmental defects and inform strategies for the artificial growth of organs. Recently, the experimental study of patterning and morphogenesis has thrived due to a rise in quantitative methods. The resulting avalanche of data motivates the use of mathematical models to interpret and predict experimental observations from the cellular to tissue scale. I describe our recent work on the application of different modelling approaches to patterning and morphogenesis in epithelia, one of the major tissue types in animals. I illustrate how such models can be used to help gain insights into developmental processes such as planar polarity, tissue size control and axis extension, and discuss some ongoing mathematical and computational challenges.