Controlling collective cell migration using geometric boundary perturbations

We work at the intersection of the active matter and tissue engineering communities, where our goal is to learn more about emergent behaviors of cellular collectives in response to perturbations of the microenvironment and to exploit these to develop design rules for controlling tissues. Here, we try to bias MDCK tissue expansion using asymmetric geometric boundary perturbations, a known strategy for biasing transport in several active matter systems. We aim to find the minimal boundary perturbation that can influence behavior in the bulk of a cell collective. Using a high throughput, high-resolution tissue-patterning assay, we can study the effects of these patterns on tissue expansion, wound healing (tissue collisions), and collective cell migration in general without typical microfabrication processes.