Konstantinos Andreadis

Active nematics, the study of units with biaxial broken symmetry, can model multicellular orientational order during morphogenesis. During my PhD I will investigate the nematic order and defects in developing tissue, specifically in two in-vitro models derived from mouse stem cells: gastruloids and organoids. While gastruloids model symmetry breaking and axis elongation in early stages of mammalian embryogenesis, organoids model intestinal development.

We will develop image analysis techniques to extract orientational fields, flux, and other relevant elements from 3D dynamic microscopy images. In parallel, we will create theoretical models and simulations to inform, validate, and hopefully predict future experimental observations. Perturbations in experimental conditions will also be applied, such as confinement using a flexible spherical capsule or interfering with stem cell biochemical signals.

Through this interdisciplinary PhD we aim to understand the role of active nematics in developing tissues, while improving gastruloid and organoid models.

My physics journey began in 2019 with a BSc at TU Delft, where I developed a passion for biophysics through a thesis on protein sequencing in the Cees Dekker lab. In 2024 I graduated with an MSc in Physics from Leiden University, specialising in biophysics research with a Casimir Pre-PhD degree. I worked on a light-sheet fluorescence microscope with Thomas Schmidt and developed an image analysis pipeline to study Septin-membrane interactions in GUVs with Gijsje Koenderink. My MSc thesis in the Silke Henkes group in collaboration with the Schmidt Lab focused on the collective migration in tumoroids, leading to a new model of 3D cellular migration in the ECM using pair-wise defined activity.

I started my joint PhD in the Roux lab and Salbreux group in October 2024.