Ben Simons

Jefferson 250, Professor Ben Simons, University of Cambridge, "Tissue Maintenance:  A Laboratory for Statistical Physics."  Joint Kavli Lecture/Physics Colloquium.

"In adult, tissues are maintained and repaired by stem cells, which divide and differentiate to generate more specialized progeny. The mechanisms that control the balance between proliferation and differentiation promise fundamental insights into the origin and design of multi-cellular organisms. However, stem cells are difficult to distinguish from their more differentiated offspring, and resolving these mechanisms has proved challenging. Applying simple methods of non-equilibrium statistical physics to lineage tracing studies from a range of tissue types, we show how scaling phenomena reveal signatures of stochastic stem cell fate. As well as providing insight into the molecular regulatory mechanisms controlling the maintenance, repair and regeneration of adult tissues, these results provide a platform to explore pathways of leading to dysregulation and disease."