Lisa Manning: Role of Mechanics in Shaping Tissues

Lisa Manning, Syracuse University 

Role of Mechanics in Shaping Tissues

Part of the Theory of Living Matter Online Seminars hosted at Cambridge University by xyz


sketch of a an online talk by Lisa Manning about the forces at play during cell differentiation - particular focus on the development of epithelia who

Some of the papers mentioned during the talk:

Manning, M. Lisa (2024). “Rigidity in mechanical biological networks” (Review). Current Biology, 34(20), R1024-R1030.

Villeneuve, Clémentine, Ali Hashmi, Irene Ylivinkka, Elizabeth Lawson-Keister, Yekaterina A. Miroshnikova, Carlos Pérez-González, Bhagwan Yadav, Tao Zhang, Danijela Matic Vignjevic, Marja L. Mikkola, M. Lisa Mannin and Sara A. Wickström.(2024). Mechanical forces across compartments coordinate cell shape and fate transitions to generate tissue architecture,  Nature Cell Biology 26, pages 207–218

Sahu, Preeti , J. M. Schwarz, M. Lisa Manning. “Geometric signatures of tissue surface tension in a three-dimensional model of confluent tissue”, New J. Phys. 23 093043 (2021).

Manna, Raj Kumar, Emma M. Retzlaff, Anna Maria Hinman, Yiling Lan,  Osama Abdel-Razek, Mike Bates,  Heidi Hehnly,  Jeffrey D. Amack, M. Lisa Manning BioRXiv 603371 "Dynamical forces drive organ morphology changes during embryonic development" (2025). 

Zhang, Tao and J. M. Schwarz "Topologically-protected interior for three-dimensional confluent cellular collectives" Phys. Rev. Research 4, 043148 (2022).

Hilgenfeldt, Sasch, Sinem Erisken, and Richard W. Carthew "Physical modeling of cell geometric order in an epithelial tissue" PNAS 105 (3) 907-911 (2008).


Wang, Xun, Matthias Merkel, Leo B. Sutter,  Gonca Erdemci-Tandogan, M. Lisa Manning and Karen E. Kasza "Anisotropy links cell shapes to tissue flow during convergent extension" PNAS 117 (24) 13541-13551 (2022).

Miroshnikova, Yekaterina A., Huy Q. Le, David Schneider, Torsten Thalheim, Matthias Rübsam, Nadine Bremicker, Julien Polleux, Nadine Kamprad, Marco Tarantola, Irène Wang, Martial Balland, Carien M. Niessen, Joerg Galle & Sara A. Wickström "Adhesion forces and cortical tension couple cell proliferation and differentiation to drive epidermal stratification" Nature Cell Biology volume 20, pages 69–80 (2018).