Modeling puzzle shape cells in plant leaves

Professor: Weitao Chen

Description: Epidermal cells in plant leaves often exhibit interdigitated puzzle shapes. Their shape formation serves as an ideal model to study cell morphogenesis and tissue growth in developmental biology. Students will work with me and my graduate students to develop a multiscale mathematical model by incorporating the extracellular hormone gradient, cell membrane associated polarizing signals, as well as cell mechanical properties and cell-cell interactions to test hypotheses underlying the jigsaw interdigitated shape formation in PCs. We will test several hypotheses for this specific cell morphogenesis.

Preferred Qualifications: Programming skills using MATLAB or Python, numerical methods to solve differential equations