Alessandra Gentile

Tissue folding is a critical developmental process that sculpts flat epithelia into three dimensional organs, across species. Recent studies in human fetal neocortex and in Drosophila wing disc have reported a role for extracellular matrix (ECM) during tissue folding. However, whether there are local differences in extracellular forces, and how this emergent spatial heterogeneity can remodel the ECM to drive tissue folding in the human neocortex is still under investigation. Using a multidisciplinary approach on diverse models sharing similar morphogenetic processes, I aim to open new interesting avenues in ECM developmental biology and tissue morphogenesis.