Urška Andrenšek, Primož Ziherl, and Matej Krajnc published a paper in Physical Review Letters. In their work, they investigate the elasticity of an unsupported epithelial monolayer and they discover that unlike a thin solid plate, which wrinkles if geometrically incompatible with the underlying substrate, the epithelium may do so even in the absence of the substrate. From a cell-based model, they derive an exact elasticity theory and discover wrinkling driven by the differential apico-basal surface tension. Their theory is mapped onto that for supported plates by introducing a phantom substrate whose stiffness is finite beyond a critical differential tension. This suggests a new mechanism for an autonomous control of tissues over the length scale of their surface patterns.

Publication: U. Andrenšek, P. Ziherl, and M. Krajnc, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 198103 (2021).