Workshop 3 Description:

Workshop 3: Morphogensis, limb growth, gastrulation, somitogenesis, neural tube formation
Organizers: Robert Dillon and Hans Othmer

This workshop will focus on animal morphogensis. Morphogensis involves the development from a single cell to a complex organism. This process involves many interrelated mechanisms including cell-signaling, differentiaion, cell migration, growth, the formation and movement of tissues. The workshop will focus on several well characterized developmental systems including the frog Xenopus, the worm C. elgans, sea squirt Ciona, vertebrate limb development and vertebrate somitogenesis. Each session will include talks from experimentalists and mathematical modelers.

These models of biological systems have attracted the attention of many experimentalists in the past. However, new experimental methods have been developed that provide a much more comprehensive picture of development, and new opportunities to develop novel mathematical methods and models for understanding these complex systems. How should we model the biomechanics of the growing tissues? What about the rheology of the growing limb bud? We have an emerging picture of the gene/protein networks that are involved with cell-signaling and differentiation. How will this be integrated with the mechanical aspects of morphogenic processes?