# Dynamic Organization of Cell Architecture in Multicellular Tissues

> **NIH NIH F30** · WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV · 2020 · $47,269

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY: Dynamic Organization of Cell Architecture in Multicellular Tissues
The majority of human cancers are derived from epithelial tissues. In carcinomas, advancement
to metastasis, which is characteristic of the terminal stages of tumor progression, accounts for
over 90% of mortality. The events that lead to tumor cell metastasis have been investigated
through studies of tumor cell behavior, which suggest that tumor invasion can initiate through
collective cell migration. Collectively migrating tumor cells share many similarities with single cell
migration and with dynamically remodeling epithelial tissues during development. However, while
the signaling mechanisms underlying single cell migration have been extensively studied, the
mechanisms that coordinate cell behaviors in dynamically remodeling multicellular tissues are
less well understood. Tissue remodeling in epithelia requires the organization of cell polarity and
behavior in the plane of the tissue, a property referred to as planar polarity. The early Drosophila
embryo is a simple multicellular epithelium in which the planar polarized localization of proteins
involved in contraction and adhesion cause the tissue to undergo dramatic changes in shape to
produce an elongated head-to-tail body axis. The goal of this project is to dissect the signaling
mechanisms involved in establishing planar polarity and regulating planar polarized cell
rearrangements in this dynamically remodeling tissue. Specifically, these studies will determine
the molecular pathways that translate interactions between neighboring cells into spatially
regulated changes in the organization of the actin cytoskeleton. In Aim 1, I will perform loss and
gain of function studies in order to identify key signaling pathways involved in regulating the planar
polarized localization of proteins involved in junctional remodeling during axis elongation, with a
focus on proteins that regulate the organization and dynamics of the actomyosin cytoskeleton. In
Aim 2, I will study how these processes are regulated by extracellular cues provided by local
interactions between cells to orient and coordinate actin reorganization across a multicellular
population. These studies will reveal how external signals are translated into planar polarized
changes in cell behavior during epithelial development and will provide insight into the
fundamental mechanisms that control the spatially regulated organization and remodeling of the
actin cytoskeleton in a multicellular tissue. Insight into the regulation of cell behavior and
actomyosin dynamics in vivo can help to elucidate the mechanisms that control collective cell
behavior in other contexts, such as during the invasion and metastasis of epithelial tumors.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9830504
- **Project number:** 5F30CA236441-02
- **Recipient organization:** WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV
- **Principal Investigator:** Jay Shi
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $47,269
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-12-01 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9830504

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9830504, Dynamic Organization of Cell Architecture in Multicellular Tissues (5F30CA236441-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9830504. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*