Brief Research Experience

My research lies at the intersection of soft matter physics, biophysics, and statistical mechanics. During my doctoral work, I studied the statics and glass-like dynamics of confluent cell monolayers using analytical theory and computational models, including the cellular Potts, Vertex, and Voronoi models. I extended random first-order transition (RFOT) theory to describe glassy dynamics in confluent cellular systems and developed a mean-field theory of cell shape that connects the static properties of the tissue with the dynamics. Alongside my theoretical research, I gained experimental experience in immunofluorescence staining and confocal imaging of the Drosophila wing-disc epithelium, investigating how cellular shapes and orientations evolve during development. This experimental exposure provides valuable biological context for my theoretical work. In my postdoctoral research, I combine theory and simulations to investigate how variations in cell stiffness and activity influence the rheology and motion of normal, cancerous, and mixed tissues. This work provides a physical framework for understanding the transition from collective to individualistic cell motion during cancer progression, which is supported by experimental studies on co-culture of cancerous and non-cancerous cells.

Know more...