Universal scaling in the rheology of model cell monolayers

Determining the flow response of cellular tissues under applied stresses is key for understanding processes including collective cell migration and morphogenesis. Here we explore the behavior of a highly coarse-grained model of an epithelial monolayer in response to a constant shear stress. We show that the system displays regimes of shear thinning, shear thickening and shear jamming, with the characteristic cell-shape index controlling the dominant regime. We demonstrate that the different regimes of nonlinear rheology exhibit universal scaling, and explore structural changes in the cells as the system shear jams.