I will describe a chemo-mechanical model for dorsal closure, a morphogenetic process during the embryonic development of Drosophila. The model accounts for the dynamic interaction among signaling proteins and how they direct mechanical deformation and movement. More specifically, I will discuss how the Par-family proteins aPKC and Bazooka induce the cyclic assembly and disassembly of a medial actomyosin network in the apical surface of the amnioserosa cells, and how this causes oscillation of the cells and subsequently constriction of their surface area, culminating in the closure of the entire tissue. This is joint work with Tony Harris’ lab at the University of Toronto.

报告人简介:  Prof. James J. Feng received his B.S. (1985) and M.S. (1988)
degrees from Peking Univ., and his Ph.D. (1995) from the Univ. of
Minnesota, all in Fluid Mechanics. In 2000, he received the NSF Career
Award for work on multicomponent polymer flows. In 2004, he moved to
the Univ. of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver as a Canada Research
Chair in Complex Fluids and Interfaces (Tier 2), with a joint appointment
in Chemical and Biological Engineering and Mathematics. He received the
CFI (Canada Foundation for Innovation) Leaders Opportunity Award in 2008,
 and the NSERC (Natural Sci. & Eng. Res. Council) Discovery Accelerator
Award in 2009. He was also a UBC Killam Faculty Research Fellow during
2010-2011 and a Visiting Fellow at the Newton Institute, Cambridge Univ.,
 in 2013. He was elected fellow of the APS (American Physical Society) in
2013 and appointed a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Peter Wall
 Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC for 2014-2015. In 2014, he was
nominated a Canada Research Chair in Cell and Tissue Mechanics (Tier 1).
His current research covers multiphase and interfacial fluid dynamics,
cell and tissue mechanics and morphogenesis.