Current Research Focus

• Nonlinear continuum modeling of fluidization in growing elastic systems with experiments:

1) Continuum modeling of fluidic and elastic flow during growth-driven wound closure in partial-EMT cell monolayers 

2) Partial epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition mediates profound gap closure through growth and fluidization

3) Inferring Exocytosis Profiles from Cell Shapes Using a Dual-Configuration Model of Walled Cell Tip Growth

4) A surface morphology-based inference method for the cell wall elasticity profile in tip-growing cells

• The role of fluidization in symmetry breaking of large-scale tissue flows

• Robust and efficient computation of morphogenesis in growing tissues with convergence studies

These three research directions reflect different aspects of my scientific perspective and personal taste. The first is a deductive effort to reconcile different theories that I have encountered for describing seemingly different biological systems. The second is my attempt to understand shape formation beyond classical elastic buckling. The third reflects my long-term interest in establishing computational standards for simulating morphogenesis that are both mathematically rigorous and physically meaningful. Work on the latter two directions is forthcoming.

My research is supported by the following awards:
• Multiscale Modeling of Fluidity in Partial EMT (pEMT) Planar Tissues-R01GM157590
• CAREER: Probing Multiscale Growth Dynamics in Filamentous Cell Walls-DMS 2144372