Surface patterns in epithelial tissues often arise due to effects of differential surface tension and elastic properties of supporting structures, such as basal membrane and bulk elastic substrate. While we cannot clearly distinguish between surface-tension and elastic contributions only from measurement of wave-length of surface patterns, thickness modulation of the tissue might give a better insight into the origins of specific pattern formation. Depending on magnitude of surface-tension and elastic energy contributions, the thickness modulation can change its amplitude and phase. I will present the theoretical predictions of effects that differential surface tension, basal membrane and elastic substrate have on surface-pattern formation and thickness modulation in mono-layered epithelial sheets.
Theoretical Biophysics and Soft Matter Group