{"id":235600,"date":"2026-04-20T22:29:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T03:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/the-physics-of-brain-development-how-cells-pull-together-to-form-the-neural-tube"},"modified":"2026-04-20T22:29:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T03:29:38","slug":"the-physics-of-brain-development-how-cells-pull-together-to-form-the-neural-tube","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/the-physics-of-brain-development-how-cells-pull-together-to-form-the-neural-tube","title":{"rendered":"The physics of brain development: How cells pull together to form the neural tube"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/the-physics-of-brain-development-how-cells-pull-together-to-form-the-neural-tube2.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In about <a href=\"https:\/\/pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/articles\/PMC4023228\/\" target=\"_blank\">one out of every 1,000 pregnancies<\/a>, the neural tube, a key nervous system structure, fails to close properly. Georgia Tech physicists are now helping explain why this happens, having uncovered the physics that drive neural tube closure in a pregnancy\u2019s earliest stages.<\/p>\n<p>Working with collaborators at University College London (UCL), Georgia Tech researchers used computer models to reveal how, during early development, forces generated by cells physically pull the neural tube closed\u2014like a drawstring. This discovery offers new insight into a critical process that\u2014when disrupted\u2014can result in severe birth defects such as spina bifida.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnderstanding a complex developmental process like neural tube closure requires a highly interdisciplinary approach,\u201d said Shiladitya Banerjee, an associate professor in the School of Physics. \u201cBy combining advanced biological imaging with theoretical physics, we were able to uncover the mechanical rules that drive cells to close the tube. My lab builds computational models to uncover the physical rules of living systems. The neural tube is an ideal focus because its formation requires incredible mechanical coordination.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In about one out of every 1,000 pregnancies, the neural tube, a key nervous system structure, fails to close properly. Georgia Tech physicists are now helping explain why this happens, having uncovered the physics that drive neural tube closure in a pregnancy\u2019s earliest stages. Working with collaborators at University College London (UCL), Georgia Tech researchers [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1523,47,219],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biological","category-computing","category-neuroscience","category-physics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235600\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}