Quantifying the shape of cells, from Minkowski tensors to p-atic orders

Lea Happel; Griseldis Oberschelp; Valeriia Grudtsyna; Harish P Jain; Rastko Sknepnek; Amin Doostmohammadi; Axel Voigt

doi:10.7554/eLife.105680

Quantifying the shape of cells, from Minkowski tensors to p-atic orders

Lea Happel
, Griseldis Oberschelp
, Valeriia Grudtsyna
, Harish P Jain
, Rastko Sknepnek
, Amin Doostmohammadi
, Axel Voigt (Lead / Corresponding author)

Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

P-atic liquid crystal theories offer new perspectives on how cells self-organize and respond to mechanical cues. Understanding and quantifying the underlying orientational orders is, therefore, essential for unraveling the physical mechanisms that govern tissue dynamics. Due to the deformability of cells this requires quantifying their shape. We introduce rigorous mathematical tools and a reliable framework for such shape analysis. Applying this to segmented cells in MDCK monolayers and computational approaches for active vertex models and multiphase field models allows to demonstrate independence of shape measures and the presence of various p-atic orders at the same time. This challenges previous findings and opens new pathways for understanding the role of orientational symmetries and p-atic liquid crystal theories in tissue mechanics and development.

Original language	English
Number of pages	35
Journal	eLife
Volume	14
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.105680
Publication status	Published - 19 Nov 2025

Keywords

Animals
Dogs
Cell Shape
Madin Darby Canine Kidney Cells
Liquid Crystals/chemistry
Models, Biological

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10.7554/eLife.105680Licence: CC BY

Final Published VersionFinal published version, 16 MBLicence: CC BY

Early-Stage Embryo as an Active Self-Tuning Soft Material (Lead: UoD other instn: University of Oxford, University College London)
Sknepnek, R. (Investigator) & Weijer, K. (Investigator)
1/04/22 → 31/12/25
Project: Research

Cite this

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title = "Quantifying the shape of cells, from Minkowski tensors to p-atic orders",

abstract = "P-atic liquid crystal theories offer new perspectives on how cells self-organize and respond to mechanical cues. Understanding and quantifying the underlying orientational orders is, therefore, essential for unraveling the physical mechanisms that govern tissue dynamics. Due to the deformability of cells this requires quantifying their shape. We introduce rigorous mathematical tools and a reliable framework for such shape analysis. Applying this to segmented cells in MDCK monolayers and computational approaches for active vertex models and multiphase field models allows to demonstrate independence of shape measures and the presence of various p-atic orders at the same time. This challenges previous findings and opens new pathways for understanding the role of orientational symmetries and p-atic liquid crystal theories in tissue mechanics and development.",

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AU - Happel, Lea

AU - Oberschelp, Griseldis

AU - Grudtsyna, Valeriia

AU - Jain, Harish P

AU - Sknepnek, Rastko

AU - Doostmohammadi, Amin

AU - Voigt, Axel

PY - 2025/11/19

Y1 - 2025/11/19

N2 - P-atic liquid crystal theories offer new perspectives on how cells self-organize and respond to mechanical cues. Understanding and quantifying the underlying orientational orders is, therefore, essential for unraveling the physical mechanisms that govern tissue dynamics. Due to the deformability of cells this requires quantifying their shape. We introduce rigorous mathematical tools and a reliable framework for such shape analysis. Applying this to segmented cells in MDCK monolayers and computational approaches for active vertex models and multiphase field models allows to demonstrate independence of shape measures and the presence of various p-atic orders at the same time. This challenges previous findings and opens new pathways for understanding the role of orientational symmetries and p-atic liquid crystal theories in tissue mechanics and development.

AB - P-atic liquid crystal theories offer new perspectives on how cells self-organize and respond to mechanical cues. Understanding and quantifying the underlying orientational orders is, therefore, essential for unraveling the physical mechanisms that govern tissue dynamics. Due to the deformability of cells this requires quantifying their shape. We introduce rigorous mathematical tools and a reliable framework for such shape analysis. Applying this to segmented cells in MDCK monolayers and computational approaches for active vertex models and multiphase field models allows to demonstrate independence of shape measures and the presence of various p-atic orders at the same time. This challenges previous findings and opens new pathways for understanding the role of orientational symmetries and p-atic liquid crystal theories in tissue mechanics and development.

KW - Animals

KW - Dogs

KW - Cell Shape

KW - Madin Darby Canine Kidney Cells

KW - Liquid Crystals/chemistry

KW - Models, Biological

U2 - 10.7554/eLife.105680

DO - 10.7554/eLife.105680

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SN - 2050-084X

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JO - eLife

JF - eLife

ER -

Quantifying the shape of cells, from Minkowski tensors to p-atic orders

Abstract

Keywords

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Projects

Early-Stage Embryo as an Active Self-Tuning Soft Material (Lead: UoD other instn: University of Oxford, University College London)

Cite this