Self-assembly of tessellated tissue sheets by expansion and collision

Matthew A Heinrich; Ricard Alert; Abraham E Wolf; Andrej Košmrlj; Daniel J Cohen

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-31459-1

Self-assembly of tessellated tissue sheets by expansion and collision

Nat Commun. 2022 Jul 12;13(1):4026. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31459-1.

Authors

Matthew A Heinrich^#¹, Ricard Alert^#^{2

3

4

5}, Abraham E Wolf^#⁶, Andrej Košmrlj^{7

8}, Daniel J Cohen^{9

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA.
² Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA.
³ Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA.
⁴ Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Nöthnitzerst. 38, 01187, Dresden, Germany.
⁵ Center for Systems Biology Dresden, Pfotenhauerst. 108, 01307, Dresden, Germany.
⁶ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA.
⁷ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA. andrej@princeton.edu.
⁸ Princeton Institute of Materials, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA. andrej@princeton.edu.
⁹ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA. danielcohen@princeton.edu.
¹⁰ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08544, USA. danielcohen@princeton.edu.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Tissues do not exist in isolation-they interact with other tissues within and across organs. While cell-cell interactions have been intensely investigated, less is known about tissue-tissue interactions. Here, we studied collisions between monolayer tissues with different geometries, cell densities, and cell types. First, we determine rules for tissue shape changes during binary collisions and describe complex cell migration at tri-tissue boundaries. Next, we propose that genetically identical tissues displace each other based on pressure gradients, which are directly linked to gradients in cell density. We present a physical model of tissue interactions that allows us to estimate the bulk modulus of the tissues from collision dynamics. Finally, we introduce TissEllate, a design tool for self-assembling complex tessellations from arrays of many tissues, and we use cell sheet engineering techniques to transfer these composite tissues like cellular films. Overall, our work provides insight into the mechanics of tissue collisions, harnessing them to engineer tissue composites as designable living materials.

Abstract

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