Computational Tissue Engineering

Cells self-assemble to form tissues by interaction of multiple physical phenomena such as cell-cell adhesion, cellular migration, cellular proliferation, chemical signalling, cell-substrate interaction. Our group aims to build an integrated computational framework for simulating self-organization of cells using  particle-based and continuum models. 

Moreover, using this framework we would like to guide design of artificial tissues with customised  shapes and functions practically implemented through 3D bioprinting and genetic engineering. 

Engineering models of embryo development

Living organisms start their life with a single cell and partition itself into multiple cells by the process of cell division. Different chemical signals and gene regulatory networks establish identities of these cells as well as define their mechanical properties that organize them into a functional living organism. Standing on the expanding experimental knowledge of these processes and utilizing tools of statistical mechanics, reaction engineering, transport phenomena, and fluid mechanics we built computational models of these processes for fruit fly embryo that provided us quantiative understanding as well as predictive power about them.

Structure and Dynamics of Biopolymers

The functioning of a living cell relies largely on structure and dynamics of biopolymers such as DNA, RNA, and proteins. In a complex environment like a cell, these polymers are subject to Brownian as well as active fluctuations. We utilize and adapt the physics of flexible polymer to reconstruct the structure of the polymers as well as infer the nature of these fluctuations from sparse imaging data.