About time: Memory and temporal dynamics in GRNs mediate global pattern scaling

Date

Sep 16, 2026

Time

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Speaker

Zena Hadjivasiliou

Affiliation

UCL and The Francis Crick Institute

Series

Physics of Life Seminar

Language

en

Main Topic

Physik

Host

Rita Mateus

Description

We are pleased to announce a new PoL Seminar by Zena Hadjivasiliou from University College London and the Francis Crick Institute. 

When?  Wednesday, 16. September 2026, 11:00 am
Where? B CUBE E73-75

Abstract:

Developmental patterns can scale with size during growth, a phenomenon commonly attributed to morphogen scaling. Although patterning is orchestrated by gene regulatory networks (GRNs) activated by morphogens, how GRN dynamics interact with growth is not understood. I will first present a theoretical framework that integrates morphogen signalling, GRN dynamics, and tissue growth. We show that pattern scaling emerges from the interplay of GRN dynamics and growth, even in the absence of morphogen scaling. This relies on memory effects encoded in the GRNs, providing a cell-autonomous route to global scaling, and offering a general mechanism for size-invariant patterning beyond morphogen-based models. Second, I will discuss ongoing work where we apply this framework to the T-box gene network which exhibits scaling properties in the zebrafish presomitic mesoderm. We show that coordination between cell autonomous GRN dynamics and tissue size dynamics can define patterning properties at the tissue level. 

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Everybody is very welcome. Don’t miss a great opportunity to join the seminar!

Please note: This seminar is going to take place in person at B CUBE and will not be streamed via Zoom.

Links

• See this event on the Physics of Life website

Last modified: Sep 15, 2026, 7:38:47 AM