Hannezo Group
Physical Principles in Biological Systems
During embryo development, cells must “know” how to behave at the right place and at the right time. The Hannezo group applies methods from theoretical physics to understand how these robust choices occur.
The Hannezo group is particularly interested in design principles and processes of self-organization in biology, at various scales, in close collaboration with cell and developmental biologists. Their methods include tools from solid and fluid mechanics, statistical physics as well as soft matter approaches. Examples of problems that the group is working on – at three different scales – include: 1) how do cytoskeletal elements, which generate forces within cells, self-organize to produce complex spatio-temporal patterns? 2) how do cells concomitantly acquire identities and shape a tissue during development? and 3) how does complex tissue architecture derive from simple self-organizing principles, for instance during branching morphogenesis (in organs such as the kidneys, mammary glands, pancreas, and prostate) as a prototypical example.
Group Leader
Administrative Support
Team
Current Projects
Stochastic branching in mammalian organs | Active fluids and cell cytoskeleton | Models of fate choices of stem cells during homeostasis and embryo development
Publications
Mclaren SBP, Xue S, Ding S, Winkel AK, Baldwin O, Dwarakacherla S, Franze K, Hannezo EB, Xiong F. Differential tissue deformability underlies fluid pressure-driven shape divergence of the avian embryonic brain and spinal cord. Developmental Cell. View
Xue S, Yang Q, Liberali P, Hannezo EB. 2025. Mechanochemical bistability of intestinal organoids enables robust morphogenesis. Nature Physics., 078104. View
Andersen MS, Ulyanchenko S, Schweiger PJ, Hannezo EB, Simons BD, Jensen KB. Spatiotemporal switches in progenitor cell fate govern upper hair follicle growth and maintenance. Journal of Investigative Dermatology. View
Rus S, Brückner D, Minchington T, Greunz M, Merrin J, Hannezo EB, Kicheva A. 2025. Self-organized pattern formation in the developing mouse neural tube by a temporal relay of BMP signaling. Developmental Cell. 60(4), 567–580. View
Fabrèges D, Corominas-Murtra B, Moghe P, Kickuth A, Ichikawa T, Iwatani C, Tsukiyama T, Daniel N, Gering J, Stokkermans A, Wolny A, Kreshuk A, Duranthon V, Uhlman V, Hannezo EB, Hiiragi T. 2024. Temporal variability and cell mechanics control robustness in mammalian embryogenesis. Science. 386(6718), eadh1145. View
ReX-Link: Edouard Hannezo
Career
Since 2022 Professor, Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)
2017 – 2022 Assistant Professor, Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)
2015 – 2017 Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellow, Gurdon Institute, Cambridge, UK
2015 – 2017 Junior Research Fellow, Trinity College, University of Cambridge, UK
2014 Postdoc, Institut Curie, Paris, France
2014 PhD, Institut Curie and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
Selected Distinctions
2019 EMBO Young Investigator Award
2019 ERC Starting Grant
2015 Wellcome Trust Fellowship
2014 Young Researcher Prize of the Bettencourt-Schuller Foundation
2014 Trinity College Junior Research Fellowship
2010 PhD grant from the French Ministry of Research
Additional Information
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Physics & Beyond at ISTA
