McCord, M., & Notbohm, J. (2025). Energy injection in an epithelial cell monolayer indicated by negative viscosity. PRX life, 3(4), 043017. DOI: doi.org/10.1103/9lnm... #EpithelialMechanics

Olivera-Martinez, I., Harada, H., Halley, P. A., & Storey, K. G. (2012). Loss of FGF-dependent mesoderm identity and rise of endogenous retinoid signalling determine cessation of body axis elongation. PLoS biology, #EpithelialMechanics doi.org/10.1371/jour...

About epithelial mechanics in a sea anemone
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About tissue fracture
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Cherubini, A., Rusconi, F., Piras, R., Wächtershäuser, K. N., Dossena, M., Barilani, M., ... & Lazzari, L. (2024). Exploring human pancreatic organoid modelling through single-cell RNA sequencing analysis. Communications Biology, #EpithelialMechanics doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Ribas, L., & Mateus, R. (2025). Start-Shape-Stop: Cell communication mechanisms controlling organ size. Seminars in cell & developmental biology, 174, 103641. #EpithelialMechanicsReview
doi.org/10.1016/j.se...

Pricoupenko, N., Marsigliesi, F., Marcq, P., Blanch-Mercader, C., & Bonnet, I. (2024). Src kinase slows collective rotation of confined epithelial cell monolayers. Soft Matter, #EpithelialMechanics doi.org/10.1039/D4SM...

Shapeti, A., Barrasa-Fano, J., Abdel Fattah, A. R., De Jong, J., Sanz-Herrera, J. A., ... & Van Oosterwyck, H. (2024). Force-mediated recruitment and reprogramming of healthy endothelial cells drive vascular lesion growth. Nature Communications #EpithelialMechanics doi.org/10.1038/s414...

How does an orbiting spherical tissue suddenly break symmetry and sprout invasive strands? We can predict this behavior from the initial morphology!

Hi, I’m @jiwon-kim.bsky.social from @ianywonglab.bsky.social.

Our thread is now up at @epimechfc.bsky.social 💗

Take a look if you are interested in how a living tissue knows how to sculpt itself!

Thank you for reading!

Follow @epimechfc.bsky.social for more:
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Much remains to be explored. What happens when the tissue geometry is more complex? Does this occur more broadly for other biomaterials? Could we one day control collective orbiting for development and disease?
We are excited to chat about epithelial mechanobiology

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We now show that we can reverse cell migration solely using osmotic pressure. Without perturbation, strands keep growing (↖️). Under perturbation, orbiting and invasion stop (↗️). Pressurizing an already-branched spheroid retracts the branch (↙️). Releasing pressure restores orbiting and invasion (↘️).

Can we manipulate this collective invasion? Han and Guo showed that gentle osmotic pressure will stiffen cells and impair collective migration.

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Early work from Wolf and Friedl also showed that invasion occurs when “leader cells” generate forces that create a small opening, and “follower cells” collectively expand the track through enzymatic degradation.

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As cells orbit, centripetal force rounds the tissue, pulling more strongly on the matrix at regions of higher initial curvature. This locally remodels the matrix fibers, creating paths for invasion. Over time, this remodeling halts orbiting and breaks spherical symmetry by initiating invasion.

We realized that our spheroids are slightly elongated, with sharper curvature highlighted in red. Initially orbiting rounds out these sharpened regions, but remarkably, invasion occurs a day later at these locations of sharp curvature! But why there in particular?

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Coordinated orbiting is also seen around a single axis for the follicle cells in the Drosophila eggchamber, which drives tissue elongation - it’s much like rolling dough with your palm!

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Early work from Kandice Tanner and Mina Bissell showed that small clusters of epithelial cells orbit in Matrigel. We see this also with larger spheroids in collagen!

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How does an orbiting spherical tissue suddenly break symmetry and sprout invasive strands? We can predict this behavior from the initial morphology!

Hi, I’m @jiwon-kim.bsky.social from @ianywonglab.bsky.social.

Han, Y. L., Pegoraro, A. F., Li, H., Li, K., Yuan, Y., Xu, G., Gu, Z., Sun, J., Hao, Y., Gupta, S. K., ..., Fredberg, J. J., & Guo, M. (2020). Cell swelling, softening and invasion in a three-dimensional breast cancer model. Nature physics, 16(1), 101–108. #EpithelialMechanics
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Wolf, K., Wu, Y. I., Liu, Y., Geiger, J., Tam, E., Overall, C., Stack, M. S., & Friedl, P. (2007). Multi-step pericellular proteolysis controls the transition from individual to collective cancer cell invasion. Nature cell biology, 9(8), 893–904. #EpithelialMechanics
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Kim, J., Jeong, H., Falcó, C., Hruska, A. M., Martinson, W. D., Marzoratti, A., ... & Wong, I. Y. (2026). Collective transitions from orbiting to matrix invasion in three-dimensional multicellular spheroids. Nature Physics, 1-12. #EpithelialMechanics
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Global Tissue Revolutions in a Morphogenetic Movement Controlling Elongation The ellipsoid shape of the Drosophila egg is controlled by global tissue revolutions that polarize the matrix.

Haigo, S. L., & Bilder, D. (2011). Global tissue revolutions in a morphogenetic movement controlling elongation. Science #EpithelialMechanics www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Tanner, K., Mori, H., Mroue, R., ..., & Bissell, M. J. (2012). Coherent angular motion in the establishment of multicellular architecture of glandular tissues. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(6), 1973–1978. #EpithelialMechanics
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Haas, P. A., & Höhn, S. S. M. H. (2025). Cut it out: Out-of-plane stresses in cell sheet folding of Volvox embryos. Physical review. E, 111(1-1), 014420. #EpithelialMechanics
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Röper K. (2025). Supracellular actomyosin assemblies: master coordinators of development. Development (Cambridge, England), 152(16), dev204896. #EpithelialMechanicsReview
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Le, P. M., Quinn, J. M., Flozak, A. S., Steffeck, A. W. T., Huang, C. F., & Gottardi, C. J. (2025). α-catenin phosphorylation is elevated during mitosis to resist apical rounding and epithelial barrier leak. Biology open, 14(1), bio061726. #EpithelialMechanics
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Weng, S., Hayashi, M., Inoue, Y., & Wallingford, J. B. (2025). Planar polarized force propagation integrates cell behavior with tissue shaping during convergent extension. Current biology : CB, 35(1), 1–10.e3. #EpithelialMechanics
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Rozman, J., & Yeomans, J. M. (2024). Cell Sorting in an Active Nematic Vertex Model. Physical review letters, 133(24), 248401. #EpithelialMechanics
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