Morphogenesis: Geometry, Physics and Biology

Abstract

[evdate 2018-08-03] Title from presentation title slide: on growth and form: geometry, biology and physics. IAS Distinguished Lecture.

Title from opening screen.

Abstract: A century after the publication of D'Arcy Thompson's classic "On Growth and Form", his vision has finally begun to permeate into the fabric of modern biology. Within this framework, the speaker discusses the geometry and physics of biological morphogenesis, with a particular focus on regulated differential growth, using examples from a range of scales: macromolecular assemblies, single cells, and multicellular tissues. Along the way, he also discusses aspects of morphometrics, the quantification of biological shape, and morphogramming, the design of bioinspired shape.

About the speaker: Prof Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan received his PhD in Mathematics from Stanford University in 1995. He joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an Assistant Professor and moved to the University of Cambridge as the Schlumberger Professor of Complex Physical Systems in 2001. In 2003, he joined the Harvard University and is currently the Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and of Physics.

Prof Mahadevan’s research focuses on using mathematics to understand the organization of matter in space and time, particularly at the scale observable by our unaided senses, and is thus closely tied in with experience and experiments. He and his group use a combination of techniques to explore the spatio-temporal organization of matter, ranging from simple observations of phenomena to quantitative experiments and theory, on scales that range from the micrometric to the megametric.

Prof Mahadevan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (2016), the Audrey, Fay, Katherine, and Megan Shutzer Fellow for Science of Harvard University (2014), the MacArthur Fellow (2009), and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow (2006). He was also the recipient of the George Ledlie Prize by Harvard University (2006) and the Harold E Edgerton Faculty Achievement Award by MIT (2000).

Duration: 74 min.