Instructor: Professor Felix Gunawan
Offered: Winter 2027 session
Weight: One module (0.25 FCE)
Time: January and February, Wednesdays from 2-4 pm (tentative) for six weeks
Location: St. George campus, Ramsay Wright Building, Room TBA
Enrolment: Limited to 8 students
Description:
This course will explore the importance of mechanical/physical forces on tissue morphogenesis and organ development. We aim to understand how forces generated by various sources, such as fluid pressure, extracellular matrix stiffness, heartbeat, and osmotic stress, impact gene expression, organelle function, cytoskeletal organization and membrane dynamics at the subcellular and single-cell level. We will further understand how these changes lead to global effects at the tissue and organ levels, such as shape changes, fate transitions and tissue regeneration. We will include literature in diverse systems, including cardiovascular system, embryonic gastrulation, neurulation, and various stem cell populations.
Evaluation: 25% seminar 1; 25% seminar 2; 25% group proposal presentation; 25% participation in discussion (tentative)
Pre-requisites: Knowledge of cell and developmental biology (equivalent to CSB328)
Last updated on June 24th, 2026