BBE Informal Seminar - L Mahadevan

"Evolutionary tales of biological shape: bodies, guts and beaks"

Morphogenesis offers a window into how genes, cells, and physics interact to generate form. Using the chick as a model, I will begin with experimental perturbations of gastrulation that recapitulate patterns seen across species, motivating a simple biophysical framework for an evo–devo phase diagram. I will then introduce a minimal theory of somitogenesis that links cellular oscillations to tissue elongation, leading to predictive relationships for somite spacing and timing.  Turning to organogenesis, I present quantitative models of gut looping and villus patterning that generate quantitative morphospaces and show how to control tissue geometry through genetics in a predictive way. Finally, I will analyze beak morphogenesis in Darwin's finches, by integrating morphometrics with biophysics to construct a beak-space capturing natural variation. In each case, I will show how to connect developmental dynamics with evolutionary trajectories within a unified quantitative framework.