What about stretch? We constrained the aggregates in agarose except for a hole. The tissue protrudes inside the hole, and the resulting stretch has a fast effect on actin alignment in the whole aggregate. Importantly, Wnt head organizers were not yet present in the protrusion. (6/9)

Measurement of the nematic (orientation) order parameter in space and time showed growing ordered domains and line defects. This suggests that local cell-cell interactions drive the transition from disorder to order. (4/9)

Very happy that the first article from my postdoc work in the Tomancak lab is now published @PNAS! www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/.... We studied the self-organization of actin in aggregates made from Hydra cells. Thread below (1/9)