Team
Cell adhesion dynamics and Differentiation

The team benefits from a very strong scientific expertise in cell adhesion dynamics and signaling with coordination of transdisciplinary projects. We aimed at investigating how adhesive machinery of cells sense biochemical and physical properties of the microenvironment to modulate downstream signaling networks that control mechano-adaptive responses implicated in individual or collective migration, invasion and tissue architecture. We wanted to identify the key principle of cell communication to maintain cell homeostasis and tissue integrity or to develop pathology. Our research aimed to uncover how single cell behaviors are coordinated at the population level, and how population-level dynamics are coupled to tissue architecture. We extended our knowledge of the organization and dynamics of the adhesive systems to advance in the understanding of cell life, tissue dynamics, collective behavior and treatment of pathologies. We investigated how spatial-temporal signaling in adhesion sites is crucial to control the diversity of cellular response, cell identity and transition process. We built dynamic and interactive signaling map for understanding cell plasticity, decision-making and cell function coupling through cell adhesion dynamics. We combined cutting-edge and innovative techniques in live imaging, optogenetics, biosensors, cell mechanics, cell imaging including spatio-temporal analysis of collective behavior, transcriptomics, proteomics, material science and network biology to uncover the integration between multiscale dynamic events regulated by adhesion signaling.