Inverse blebs in blastocyst formation

Lumen formation is a fundamental principle of morphogenesis. The first lumen in mammalian development appears at the end of preimplantation development, when the embryo forms the blastocyst. Blastocyst lumen formation occurs in an intricate process in which cell contacts are broken to form hundreds of micron-sized lumens, which then exchange fluid until one final lumen remains. The cellular processes underlying this process remain incompletely understood.

In my talk, I will present the previously undescribed phenomenon of inverse blebs during blastocyst formation. Inverse blebs are short-lived membrane protrusions into the cytosol at cell-cell contacts with a lifetime of ca. 1 min. They form due to intercellular fluid pressure and retract in an actomyosin-dependent manner. During my talk, I will describe inverse bleb dynamics and the mechanism of their formation and retraction. I will also explain how inverse blebs relate to the overall lumen formation process and how they might ensure the robust formation of a single final lumen.

This exciting talk will kick-off the monthly "Tissue Mechanics Group Meeting" (TMGM) that will take place one Friday per month at 4pm. The idea behind these meetings is to provide an informal forum for people to present their work (unpublished and ongoing) to a community of people at Curie interested in tissue mechanics at multiple scales. This informal setting will facilitate discussion and connections between researchers with similar interested and varied expertise. The talks willbe followed by a "happy hour" to enable further discussions!