“Synthetic development biology: decoding and controlling multicellular self-organization”
Living matter has a remarkable ability to self-organize emergent patterns, forms, and functions. During embryonic development, signaling interactions between cells mediate self-organization of a multicellular body plan. Progress in biological measurement is generating increasingly precise descriptions of the molecular details of embryonic development (‘cellular atlases’). Yet we lack a corresponding understanding of how signaling interactions break symmetry to generate emergent multicellular complexity. What are the algorithms of embryonic development, and how are they implemented by cells?
We use stem-cell derived embryo models (organoids, gastruloids, embryoids) as ‘physics laboratories’ to investigate fundamental mechanisms of pattern formation. To interrogate self-organization, we program cells with genetic circuits that can ‘read’ and ‘write’ biological signals. Using signal-recording circuits, we can trace early cell states which predict future cell fates. Using optogenetics, we control developmental signals with patterns of light.
We will describe recent examples of using this strategy to investigate anterior-posterior axis formation during gastrulation, and to investigate a possible role for electrical signals in embryonic development. Our long-term goal is for ‘synthetic developmental biology’ to build a bottom-up understanding of how multicellular complexity emerges from fundamental cellular interactions.
Host: Benjamin Machta