Banerjee Lab

One of the grand challenges of the 21st century is to understand, control, and re-engineer a living system from its many component parts to reconstitute the unique functions, structures, and material properties that define life. Our lab takes on this challenge by building quantitative models rooted in physics that bring out the design rules sculpting biological form, function, and behaviour across different spatiotemporal scales and organisational levels. Our work is organised around three main themes:

Mechanics of subcellular organization: How does a cell build and organize its internal structures to control its mechanical behavior?
Single-cell biophysics: How do single cells coordinate their growth with replication cycle to control their size, shape and biophysical activities?
Collective behavior in multicellular systems: How do cells in a population communicate, coordinate and cooperate to successfully proliferate, transmit mechanical forces, and repair damages?

Recent Papers

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Cell-scale biophysical determinants of cell competition in epithelia
Gradeci D et al, eLife 10, e61011 (2021)

Hindbrain neuropore tissue geometry determines asymmetric cell-mediated closure dynamics in mouse embryos
Maniou E et al, PNAS 118, e2023163118 (2021)

Bacterial cell shape control by nutrient-dependent synthesis of cell division inhibitors
Ojkic N and Banerjee S, Biophysical Journal 120, 2079 (2021)

Mechanical feedback promotes bacterial adaptation to antibiotics
Banerjee S et al, Nature Physics 17, 403 (2021)

Nutrient-dependent trade-offs between ribosomes and division protein synthesis control bacterial cell size and growth
Serbanescu D, Ojkic N, and Banerjee S
Cell Reports 32, 108183 (2020)

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