Mécanique des cellules et des tissus vivants

I had the privilege to be a member of the jury for the HDR¹ defence of Pierre Récho, which took place on February 26, 2026.

The title of his thesis is “Mécanique des cellules et des tissus vivants” (Mechanics of living cells and tissues).

Abstract of his thesis (initially written in first person)

[His] primary research interests are in the general field of cell biophysics, more specifically, mechanics of the cytoskeleton, one of the main force-producing structure in the cell. [His] broad goal is to develop and study mechanical models to understand how cells control their shape, volume and motility to perform collective tasks and self-organize into tissues. These functions play a crucial role in many biological phenomena including wound healing, inflammation, remodeling of connecting tissues, rebuilding of damaged structures and formation of metastases in cancer. What mostly fascinates [him] in this type of research is the delicate and often unexpected interplay between biology and mechanics. He works on quantitative models that can, on one side, reproduce experiments and, on the other side, be thoroughly understood at the mathematical level. [He] enjoy[s] the interdisciplinary nature of the projects where biology and physics are the fundamental starting points while mathematics is a powerful tool allowing one to achieve full clarity.

Table of contents

• 1 Introduction
• 2 Cell motion on tracks
  • 2.1 Self-polarization instabilities
  • 2.2 External forces applied on a crawling cell
  • 2.3 Optimal crawling strategies
  • 2.4 Biological fluctuations in cell motility
  • 2.5 Perspectives and open questions
• 3 Tissue dynamics
  • 3.1 Cell volume regulation
  • 3.2 Porous interstitial flows
  • 3.3 The shape of cell sheets
  • 3.4 Tissue turnover and front propagation
  • 3.5 Perspectives and open questions
• 4 Conclusion

Footnotes

1. Habilitation à Diriger les Recherches