The people behind the papers – Judith Pineau, Jerome Wong-Ng and Thomas Gregor

Mechanical constraint has a strong influence on development, but its exact impact on transcriptional patterning remains unclear. In a new study, Pineau et al. use gastruloids - embryonic stem cell-derived aggregates that display anteroposterior patterning as they develop - to study the impact of different mechanical environments on gene expression and morphogenesis. To find out more, we spoke to co-first authors Judith Pineau and Jerome Wong-Ng, and corresponding author Thomas Gregor, Director of Research at the Institute Pasteur, France, and Professor at Princeton University, USA.