The people behind the papers – Flora Llense and Michel Labouesse

Mechanical forces play an important role in embryonic morphogenesis. In Caenorhabditis elegans, muscle contractions in the early embryo drive axial elongation, but it has remained unclear how these mechanical signals are coordinated on the scale of the whole embryo. In a new study, Llense and colleagues used calcium imaging and RNA interference to understand how these contractions are initiated, and to identify key molecular players. We spoke to first author Flora Llense and corresponding author Michel Labouesse, Professor at Sorbonne Université, Paris, France, to find out more.