Welcome to the website of Prof. Julio M. Belmonte at NC State.
Our group is interested in understanding the basic rules that govern pattern formation and cellular behavior and how these arise from physical principles. In particular we are trying to find out how cells generate forces and change their shapes, and how tissues and organs are formed during development.
We make use of computer simulations to pursuit these questions.
At the cellular level, we use Brownian dynamics simulations of the cytoskeleton (Cytosim) to study how the cell cortex generate tensions and how these are transmitted between cells.
Above you can see a 2D simulation of a contractile actomyosin network (paper).
At the tissue level, we use Cellular Potts simulations (CompuCell3D) to study how organs and tissues are formed during embryo development.
On the video above there are 4 different views of a 3D simulation of renal tubule with a defective cell (in blue) leading to the formation of a cyst (paper)