Mechanical stress in curved epithelia of designed size and shape

Abstract

GENERAL AIM:

The general aim of this thesis is to understand how mechanical stress depends on pressure, size and shape in fluid-filled curved epithelial sheets.

SPECIFIC AIMS:

This general aim can be divided in the following specific objectives:

1. To develop a TFM-compatible protocol to generate curved epithelial monolayers with any desired size and shape. 2. To study the effect of size on the mechanical properties of spherical-cap epithelial monolayers. 3. To validate an inference method to map the stress tensor anywhere in the monolayer without assumptions of mechanical properties. 4. To study the effect of anisotropy on the mechanical properties of curved epithelial monolayers with rectangular and ellipsoidal footprints. 5. To study the relationship between stress anisotropy and cellular geometry and alignment in curved epithelial monolayers. 6. To study the relationship between stress anisotropy and nuclear geometry and alignment in curved epithelial monolayers.