Minicolloquium Link: http://myumi.ch/AxgeZ

Human pluripotent stem cells resemble the cells of the early human embryo and have the potential to differentiate into any cell type of the body. Remarkably, they have an intrinsic ability to self-organize into embryo-like or organ-like structures and will spontaneously form spatial patterns in a dish through interplay of biochemical signaling networks and cell mechanics. Understanding how they do this will both answer fundamental questions about developmental biology and aid countless therapeutic applications. The quantitative toolkit of physics is essential to unravel the mechanisms that underlie the complex spatiotemporal behavior of these cells as they self-organize. I will discuss how quantitative experiments with stem cells have led us to challenge existing models for cell differentiation and pitch a project to explore how physical forces influence cell fate decisions.