Francis Corson CNRS researcher Laboratoire de Physique de l'Ecole Normale Supérieure 24, rue Lhomond 75231 Paris Cedex 05 France Visiting professor Center for Studies in Physics and Biology The Rockefeller University New York corson at phys.ens.fr

I am a theoretician working at the interface between physics and developmental biology (patterning and morphogenesis), in close collaboration with experimentalists. My contribution includes theory and modeling (with a preference for simple/coarse-grained models, which I find most illuminating), along with the development of image/data analysis tools, to work towards a quantitative, dynamical picture of development.

Current projects include:
- neural patterning in Drosophila, with the group of François Schweisguth at the Pasteur Institute;
- early morphogenesis of the amniote embryo, with the group of Jérôme Gros, also in Pasteur.

A common thread in several projects, that is fruitfully approached through a combination of theory and experiments, is the role for self-organization in development.

Selected publications

Self-organized tissue mechanics underlie embryonic regulation
P. Caldarelli, A. Chamolly, O. Alegria-Prévot, J. Gros*, F. Corson*, bioRxiv

A tensile ring drives tissue flows to shape the gastrulating amniote embryo
M. Saadaoui, D. Rocancourt, J. Roussel, F. Corson*, J. Gros*
Science, 367, 453–458 (2020) link preprint

Self-organization in pattern formation
F. Schweisguth, F. Corson, Dev Cell, 49, 659-677 (2019) link

Self-organized Notch dynamics generate stereotyped sensory organ patterns in Drosophila
F. Corson, L. Couturier, H. Rouault, K. Mazouni, F. Schweisguth
Science, 356, eaai7407 (2017) link

Gene-free methodology for cell fate dynamics during development
F. Corson, E. Siggia, eLife, 6, e30743 (2017) link pdf