Physical Principles of Extracellular Matrix Generation in Multicellular Organisms

Green algae and sponges are folding their tissues like origami, and physicists want to know how they do it. This research addresses a fundamental gap in biology: we understand the genetic and chemical signals that drive tissue folding in animals—from gut formation to spinal cord development—but we have almost no physical or mechanical understanding of how cells actually bend and shape the sheets they live in. The simplest multicellular organisms, such as green algae and sponges, perform these same tissue-folding tricks during their life cycles, yet no one has measured the forces, elasticities, or material properties involved. The project is pure fundamental science. It combines advanced imaging, micromanipulation, and force measurements with mathematical theory to quantify how cells build and reshape the extracellular matrix—the structural scaffolding outside themselves—in these ancient organisms. If successful, it will establish the physical principles that govern tissue mechanics across the tree of life. While there is no immediate practical application, understanding how cells robustly and accurately generate external structures could eventually inform tissue engineering, synthetic biology, or biomaterials design. Past fundamental work on tissue mechanics has already influenced surgical planning and wound healing; this project lays the groundwork for similar unexpected applications.