Possible Rotation Projects:
- What is the role of supracellular factors in heart field assembly and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transitions?
- Does the cytoskeleton composition establish the mechanical setpoint for morphogenesis?
- How do mechanical strains contribute to cell behaviors such as division plane, rearrangement, or motility.
Training Technologies Used:
- Confocal live-imaging
- Reporters
- Microsurgery and explant culture
- Tissue mechanics and force measurement
- Quantitative image analysis
- Molecular perturbation
- Postdoctoral: Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville
- PhD: Biophysics, University of California at Berkeley, California
- MSc: Experimental Space Science, York University, Toronto Canada
- BS: Physics, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
M. E. Corkins, A. Bhattad, T. Hao, N. Williams, M. P. Ford, S. P. Colin, J. H. Costello, L. A. Davidson (in review). Life under pressure: dissection of metazoan response to extreme hydrostatic pressure reveals pressure-protective heat shock acclimation. BioRxiv doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.06.736787
J. Yang, Y. Dong, C. B. Jones, Y. Wang, C. V. Merino, C. Stuckenholz, L. A. Davidson (in review). Shape, Strain, and Stability: Epithelia Under High Strain. BioRxiv doi.org/10.1101/2025.11.12.687918. PMID: 41292910.
G. Masak and L. A. Davidson (in review). Supracellular Mechanics and Counter-Rotational Bilateral Flows Orchestrate Posterior Morphogenesis. BioRxiv doi.org/10.1101/2025.11.18.689090.
S. D. Joshi*, T. J. Jackson*, L. Zhang, C. Stuckenholz, and L. A. Davidson (2025). Supracellular contractility in Xenopus embryo epithelia regulated by extracellular ATP and the purinergic receptor P2Y2. Journal of Cell Science, 138, jcs263877. PMID: 40856002. 10.1242/jcs.263877
J. Yang, E. Hearty, Y. Wang, D. S. Vijayraghavan, T. Walter, S. Anjum, C. Stuckenholz, Y.-W. Chen, S. Balasubramanian, Y. Dong, A. V. Kwiatkowski, and L. A. Davidson (2025). The TissueTractor: a device for applying large strains to tissues and cells for simultaneous high- resolution live cell microscopy. Small Methods, 2500136. PMID: 40059484. 10.1002/smtd.202500136
S. Anjum, L. Turner, Y. Atieh, G. Eisenhoffer*, and L. A. Davidson* (2024). Assessing mechanical agency during apical apoptotic extrusion. iScience, 27(11):111017. PMID: 39507245. 10.1016/j.isci.2024.111017.
T. Ichikawa, C. Stuckenholz, and L. A. Davidson (2020). Revealing the function of non-junctional Cadherin3 on cell migration and contact inhibition of locomotion via domain-dependent opposing regulation of Rac1. Scientific Reports. 10: 17326. PMID: 33060598. doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-73862-y
H. Y. Kim, T. R. Jackson, C. Stuckenholz, and L. A. Davidson (2020). Tissue mechanics drives regeneration of a mucociliated epidermis on the surface of Xenopus embryonic aggregates. Nature Communications. 11: 1-10. PMID: 32005801. 10.1038/s41467-020-14385-y
J. H. Shawky, U. L. Balakrishnan, C. Stuckenholz, L. A. Davidson (2018). Multiscale analysis of architecture, cell size and the cell cortex reveals cortical F-actin density and composition are major contributors to mechanical properties during convergent extension. Development.145(19). pii: dev161281. PMID: 30190279. 10.1242/dev.161281
T. R. Jackson, H. Y. Kim, U. L. Balakrishnan, C. Stuckenholz, and L. A. Davidson (2017). Spatiotemporally controlled mechanical cues drive progenitor mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition enabling proper heart formation and function. Current Biology. 27: 1326–1335. PMID: 28434863. 10.1016/j.cub.2017.03.065
The Mechmorpho Lab uses cutting-edge molecular, cellular, and biophysical approaches to illuminate how epithelial tissues acquire their form and function with mechanical precision. Working at the interface of developmental biology and biomedical engineering, the lab integrates high-resolution live confocal imaging, embryo manipulation, and quantitative mechanical testing—including micromechanical stretchers—in the Xenopus model to uncover the fundamental mechanisms by which cells assemble into cohesive sheets and remodel tissues during embryogenesis. A central effort addresses tissue function and the junctional complexes that sustain tissue integrity, together with the role of cytoskeleton and adhesion in linking molecular architecture to emergent mechanical behavior. These experimental studies are unified with a strong computational and informatics-based program: the lab develops image-analysis tools for cell tracking and junction quantification and applies statistical modeling, 3D reconstruction, and computer simulations to connect molecular events to tissue organization at a systems level.
Beyond this core, the Mechmorpho Lab pursues broad, multidisciplinary interests spanning the biophysics of tissue self-organization and the treatment of living tissues through the lens of soft matter physics. The lab is actively engaged with emerging frontiers, including bioelectricity and bioelectric signaling, advanced imaging modalities such as FRAP and quantitative super-resolution confocal microscopy, and molecular strategies like base editing for dissecting the genes that underlie epithelial dysfunction. It also explores the growing role of computational and AI-driven methods in experimental design and teaching, as well as questions extending into invasive species biology and aquatic systems. Across these directions, the lab is committed to quantitative, cross-scale inquiry—resolving how molecular components give rise to the mechanical and organizational properties of tissues—work that expands our understanding of development and physiology in health and disease and is sustained through NIH- and NSF-funded research and the mentorship of the next generation of scientists.
