Dresden 2026 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 7: Poster Session I
BP 7.51: Poster
Montag, 9. März 2026, 15:00–17:00, P5
Cellular shape anisotropy couples to morphogen transport to drive pattern formation — •Stefan Nienhaus1 and Diana Khoromskaia1,2 — 1Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany — 2Center for Soft Nanoscience, Universität Münster, 48149 Münster, Germany
To attain their intended structures, many tissues have been shown to rely on morphogens that induce concentration-dependent changes in cell fate and in cellular mechanical properties. These changes can alter the transport properties of the morphogen within the affected tissue. Hence, a feedback loop may arise in which tissue patterning influences morphogen distribution, which in turn influences tissue patterning (bioRxiv:658228). This concept also applies to tissues with nematic order, which has been shown to be crucial to certain morphogenetic processes that predominantly occur at topological defects.
In this work, we explore the complex couplings between morphogens and nematics and aim to investigate the role of topological defects in localising cellular signalling for morphogenesis. Previous work has shown that cellular shape anisotropy may lead to anisotropic diffusion (bioRxiv:683494). Here, through numerical simulations of a reaction-diffusion system coupled to a nematic order parameter, we study how locally anisotropic diffusion affects the observed patterns. Introducing a concentration-dependent nematic alignment as a next step, we will investigate mechanisms of self-organisation that arise from this inherent coupling of morphogens and nematic order in tissues.
Keywords: Morphogen; Nematic; Pattern formation; Reaction-Diffusion; Topological Defect