Pablo Vicente Munuera is awarded an MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship

Pablo Vicente Munuera (Mao Lab) is awarded MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship to investigate the effects of microgravity on cell and tissue mechanics during wound healing.

"My aim is to elucidate how tissues, cells, and their molecular components (e.g., cytoskeleton, adhesion molecules) respond to extreme mechanical stresses. In particular, how cells change shape in 3D during wound repair on earth and under microgravity."

By developing an innovative image analysis pipeline based on machine learning, and a computational 3D vertex model of epithelia, Pablo will investigate the role of tissue mechanics and 3D cell shape changes during epithelial wound healing ‘on Earth’. Given that spaceflights are rare and very expensive, he will use a Random Positioning Machine (RPM) to experimentally simulate microgravity conditions, and to analyse how gravity affects the 3D shape of epithelial cells. Finally, he aims to determine how changes in 3D cell shape and tissue mechanics under microgravity conditions affect wound closure.

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