Regensburg 2025 – scientific programme
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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik
DY 38: Focus Session: Innovations in Research Software Engineering (joint session BP/DY)
DY 38.11: Talk
Thursday, March 20, 2025, 17:45–18:00, H44
Python-Based Analysis Pipeline for the Quantification of Mechanics in Neural Organoids — •Michael Frischmann1, 2, Elijah R. Shelton1, Achim T. Brinkop1, 2, and Friedhelm Serwane1, 2, 3 — 1Faculty of Physics & Center for NanoScience, LMU Munich, Germany — 2Institute of Biophysics, Ulm University, Ulm, Germany — 3SyNergy & GSN, Munich, Germany
Neuronal tissues form under the influence of mechanical forces guiding cellular movements. In the mammalian retina, neuronal translocations occur over hours. However, mechanical probing at those timescales in situ have posed experimental challenges. We employed magnetic ferrofluid droplets in mouse stem cell-derived retinal organoids to probe tissue mechanics from seconds to hours. To quantify tissue strain we have developed a Python-based analysis pipeline featuring an accessible graphical user interface (GUI). This pipeline automates strain quantification, image segmentation, and fitting procedures, enabling high-fidelity creep compliance measurements over extended durations. Our measurements reveal power-law scaling of dynamic compliance as well as tensile loss and storage modulus, consistent with soft glassy rheology just above the glass transition. These results demonstrate that neuronal tissues remodel in a scale-free manner while maintaining solid-like properties. This discovery provides a framework for understanding how mechanical signals may govern connectivity in the central nervous system. Integrating neural organoid models, mechanical probing, and computational methods, prepares us to investigate the interplay between biomechanics and neurodevelopment.
Keywords: Tissue mechanics; Soft glassy rheology; Neural organoids; Retinal organoids