Dr. Friedhelm Serwane, LMU Munich: Towards a mechanical control of neuronal network formation The bottom-up assembly of complex systems promises their fundamental understanding. In many cases, however, this assembly is still beyond our experimental reach - a prime example therefore is our brain. In recent years, researchers have engineered multicellular 3D systems, organoids, which share the same cell types and tissue organization as their in vivo counterparts. Those in vitro models now provide an opportunity to glimpse at how biology self-assembles neuronal networks and how nanoscale building blocks, such as cell-cell adhesion molecules, contribute to the formation of organoid shape, structure and function. In this seminar I will present the current and future research of our newly established ERC-group. We will explore, how tissue mechanical properties depend on cell-cell adhesion molecules to control the formation of retina organoids. For this, we build on our expertise in mechanics measurements1,2 and retina organoid technology. Quantifying the mechanics of neuronal systems holds the potential for establishing a biophysical understanding how neuronal networks are formed. In addition, it opens the door to neurodegenerative disease modeling as it will be performed, for example, by our group.
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