Vito Conte

I am a scientist in the engineering and physics of biological systems. He is a tenure-track assistant professor at the TU/e Department of Biomedical Engineering and a junior group leader of the Mechanics of Development and Disease group at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia in Barcelona. I advances cross-disciplinary research at the interface between biology, physics and engineering by investigating the mechanical biology and the biological mechanics of development and disease in living tissues and organisms through multidisciplinary approaches combining in vivo, in vitro and in silico techniques.

I received my MPhys in theoretical physics from the University of Naples Federico II (2005) and my PhD in biomechanical engineering (2009) from the King's College London under the supervision of Mark Miodownik MBE. I continued investigating as a postdoctoral researcher in the Miodownik group before joining the Integrative Cell and Tissue Dynamics Group led by Xavier Trepat at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) in Barcelona, first as a postdoctoral researcher (2011) and later as a Juan-de-la-Cierva fellow (2013). I went on to became a Ramon-y-Cajal fellow at the same institute (2016), where I now lead the Mechanics of Development and Disease group. In May 2018, I also joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Cell-Matrix Interaction for Cardiovascular Tissue Regeneration unit led by Carlijn Bouten.

PUBLICATIONS

(# first-joint, ‡ corresponding)

Nyga, A., Muñoz, J. J., Dercksen, S. L., Fornabaio, G., Uroz, M., Trepat, X., Baum, B., Matthews, H. K. and Conte, V. – Oncogenic RAS instructs morphological transformation of human epithelia via differential tissue mechanics – SCIENCE ADVANCES (2021)

Uroz M., Garcia-Puig A., Tekeli I., Elosegui-Artola A., Abenza J.F., Marín-Llaradó A., Pujals S., Conte V., Albertazzi L., Roca-Cusachs P., Raya Á. and Trepat X. – Traction forces at the cytokinetic ring regulate cell division and polyploidy in the migrating zebrafish epicardium –  NATURE MATERIALS (2019)

Uroz M., Wistorf S., Serra-Picamal X., Conte V., Sales-Pardo M., Roca-Cusachs P., Guimerà R. and Trepat X. – Regulation of cell cycle progression by cell–cell and cell–matrix forces –  NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (2018)

Munoz J. J., Amat D. and Conte V. – Computation of forces from deformed visco-elastic biological tissues –  INVERSE PROBLEMS (2018)

Perez-Mockus G., Mazouni K., Roca V., Corradi G., Conte V.  ‡, and Schweisguth F.  ‡ – Spatial regulation of contractility by Neuralized and Bearded during furrow invagination in Drosophila –  NATURE COMMUNICATIONS  (2017)

Rodríguez-Franco P., Brugués A., Marín-Llauradó A., Conte V. , Solanas G., Batlle E., Fredberg J. J., Roca-Cusachs P., Sunyer R. and Trepat X. – Long-lived force patterns and deformation waves at repulsive epithelial boundaries  – NATURE MATERIALS (2017)

Roca-Cusachs P. ‡, Conte V. ‡, Trepat X. ‡ – Quantifying forces in cell biology – NATURE CELL BIOLOGY (2017)

Sunyer R., Conte V., Escribano J., Elosegui-Artola A., Labernadie A., Valon L., Navajas D.,García-Aznar JM., Muñoz J. J., Roca-Cusachs P., Trepat X. – Collective cell durotaxis emerges from long-range intercellular force transmission – SCIENCE (2016) 

Bazellières E., Conte V., Elosegui-Artola A., Serra-Picamal X., Bintanel-Morcillo M., Roca-Cusachs P., Muñoz J.J., Sales-Pardo M., Guimerà R. and Xavier Trepat –Control of cell-cell forces and collective cell dynamics by the intercellular adhesome – NATURE CELL BIOLOGY  (2015)

Serra-Picamal X., Conte V., Sunyer R., Muñoz J.J. and Trepat X. – Mapping forces and kinematics during collective cell migration – In: E. Paluch (ed.) Biophysical Methods in Cell Biology, ELSEVIER (2015) 

Brugués A. #, Anon E. #, Conte V. #, Veldhuis J.H., Gupta M., Colombelli, J., Muñoz J.J., Brodland G.W., Ladoux B. and Trepat X. – Forces driving epithelial wound healing – NATURE PHYSICS (2014)

Muñoz, J.J., Conte V., Asadipour, N. and Miodownik, M. – A truss element for modelling reversible softening in living tissues – MECHANICS RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS (2013)

Serra-Picamal X. #, Conte V. #, Vincent R., Anon E., Tambe D.T., Bazellieres E., Butler.P., Fredberg J.J. and Trepat X. – Mechanical waves during tissue expansion – NATURE PHYSICS (2012) 

Conte V., Ulrich F., Baum B., Munoz J.J., Veldhuis J., Brodland G.W. and Miodownik M. – A Biomechanical Analysis of Ventral Furrow Formation in the Drosophila Melanogaster Embryo – PLOS ONE (2012) 

Conte V. – Morfologie di corpo materiale nella fisica classica: rappresentazioni e modelli matematici di corporeità [translation: Morphologies of material body in classical physics: mathematical representations and models of corporeity] – In: V. Bochicchio (Ed.) Dal corpo al simbolo - Ermeneutiche della corporeità [translation: From body to symbol – hermeneutics of corporeity], FRANCO ANGELINI EDITIONS, Milan (2011) 

Brodland G.W., Conte V., Cranston P.G., Veldhuis J., Narasimhan S., Hutson M.S., Jacinto A., Ulrich F., Baum B. and Miodownik M. – Video Force Microscopy Reveals the Mechanics of Ventral Furrow Invagination in Drosophila – PNAS (2010) 

Munoz J. J., Conte V. and Miodownik M. A. – Stress-dependent morphogenesis: continuum mechanics and truss systems – BIOMECH and MODELING in MECHANOBIOLOGY (2010)

Munoz J. J., Conte V. and Miodownik M. A. – Stress dependent morphogenesis: continuum mechanics and system of trusses – In: Andrus Koppel and Jaak Oja (Eds.), Continuum Mechanics,  NOVA SCIENCE PUBLISHERS (2010) 

Conte V., Munoz J.J., Baum B. and Miodownik M. A. – Robust mechanisms of ventral furrow invagination require the combination of cellular shape changes – PHYSICAL BIOLOGY (2009) 

Conte V., Munoz J. J. and Miodownik M. A. – A 3D finite element model of ventral furrow invagination in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo –  JOURNAL of MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR of BIOMEDICAL MATERIALS (2008)