M. Vergassola

Two-fluid dynamics and micron-thin boundary layers shape cytoplasmic flows in early Drosophila embryos

The paper develops a two-fluid model to explain cytoplasmic flows and nuclear positioning in early Drosophila embryos, revealing new insights into flow dynamics and their functional roles.

Fluctuating landscapes and heavy tails in animal behavior

The paper shows that slow non-ergodic dynamics in C. elegans locomotion lead to heavy-tailed statistics, explained by time-dependent potential landscapes.

Alternation emerges as a multi-modal strategy for turbulent odor navigation

The paper shows that alternation, a behavior in foraging mammals, is a multi-modal strategy for navigating turbulent odor plumes, combining casting, surging, and decision-making under partial observability.

Affinity maturation for an optimal balance between long-term immune coverage and short-term resource constraints

The paper models the trade-off between immune protection and metabolic costs during affinity maturation, predicting power-law distributions of clonotype sizes and antigenic imprinting.

Sector search strategies for odor trail tracking

This study develops an optimization framework to explain odor trail tracking behavior in animals, showing how search geometry limits tracking speed and when casting is necessary.

hunchback promoters can readout morphogenetic positional information in less than a minute

The paper shows that hunchback promoters can make accurate cell fate decisions within minutes by dynamically updating likelihoods of anterior/posterior positions based on Bicoid morphogen concentration.

Tissue mechanics and somatosensory neural responses govern touch sensation in C. elegans

This study develops a quantitative model to explain touch sensation in C. elegans by integrating tissue mechanics and neural responses to indentation stimuli.