Mechanics of fibrous tissue: cell-driven short time active response

Soft tissue connect, surround or support internal organs and bones. They exhibit a large variety of microstructures and mechanical properties, which vary from organ to organ and according to patho-physiological conditions. In these tissues, cells are dispersed away from one another and in a collagen-based matrix, the so-called extra-cellular matrix (ECM). It is known that cells can rearrange the collagen both by biochemical action and mechanical forces, over the time scale of hours, and that their action can result in drastic changes in both the organisation and the mechanical properties of the matrix. How cells collectively orchestrate those changes remains a challenging question.

In order to start addressing those question, we will focus on shorter time passive and active mechanics of an in vitro reconstituted microtissue and design a mechanical model of active fibrous network able to recapitulate the plastic response of fibrous tissue to compression at hour time-scale.

In a Master's internship, we will focus on the data analysis of how cells and the microstucture of collagen respond to transient compression.