Massachusetts Institute of Technology · BiologyTissue Morphogenesis Lab
Adam Christopher Martin · Cambridge, Massachusetts
Research Focus
In Professor Adam Christopher Martin's lab at MIT, researchers study how tissues change shape during development through the actions of cells and the forces they generate. They use the fruit fly Drosophila as a model organism to explore the molecular signaling pathways that control the actomyosin cytoskeleton, which is crucial for tissue formation. The lab employs a combination of biology, engineering, and mathematics to uncover the mechanisms behind tissue morphogenesis and the intricate interactions between cells in developing tissues.
tissue morphogenesisactomyosincell signalingDrosophilacell behaviorforce transmissiondevelopmental biologymechanicsmolecular biology
Research Aims
5AIM 01Investigate the signaling pathways regulating actomyosin dynamics during tissue development.
AIM 02Analyze the force transmission mechanisms between cells in tissues.
AIM 03Explore how supracellular actomyosin networks contribute to morphology.
AIM 04Determine the effects of cell-to-cell connections on tissue shape.
AIM 05Develop new methodologies for visualizing cellular forces in real-time.
Skills the Lab Values
cell cultureimmunofluorescencelive-cell imagingWestern blotgenetic manipulationcomputational modelingRho GTPase analysisbiomechanical assaysdata visualization