ABSTRACT

Morphogenesis is a striking process in which tissues change and adapt their shape—a phenomenon that intersects cell and molecular biology, tissue mechanics, and geometry. It plays a crucial role in many biological events, including wound healing, embryonic development, organ formation, and large-scale regeneration in organisms like Hydra.

But how can we accurately measure these large- and small-scale adaptation in 3D, especially since we often acquire 2D microscopy images? To address this, I developed advanced image analysis tools that capture the local tissue curvature, cell organization, and fluorescence signals to track molecular events across the entire surface of complex 3D tissues. Using these tools, I validated theoretical predictions from simulations by analyzing the arrangement of cells in multicellular aggregates. This approach also helped connect biological mechanisms with physical descriptions, such as in the developing zebrafish heart.

With these tools, I am now exploring deeper questions—specifically, how physical and biological processes work together during morphogenesis. Currently, I am investigating how collective clusters of cells—known as topological defects—may drive symmetry-breaking in spherical cell aggregates, leading to the formation of multicellular protrusions, and how these events are linked to underlying sub-cellular mechanisms.

BIOSKETCH

Julia Eckert is an experimental biophysicist working at the interface of cell biology, soft matter physics, and quantitative image analysis. She obtained her PhD in 2022 from Leiden University in the Netherlands, where she investigated mechanical forces in cells and symmetries in tissues. Following her doctoral research, Julia pursued a Postdoc in Alpha Yap’s Lab at the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at The University of Queensland, Australia. Shortly after which, she was awarded the Walter Benjamin Fellowship, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, to investigate how tissue geometry guides epithelial morphogenesis. Julia co-chairs the Epithelial Mechanics Fan Club, an online community dedicated to fostering networking among early-career researchers interested in the mechanical aspects of biological processes.