Wang Xi
Dr. Wang Xi is a Chargé de Recherche (permanent researcher) at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Institut Jacques Monod, Paris Cité University. He received a D.Phil. in Chemistry from the University of Oxford and later transitioned to the fields of mechanobiology and biomaterials. His interdisciplinary research bridges materials science, biophysics, and cell biology to understand how cells sense and respond to their physical microenvironment.
Wang Xi’s research focuses on designing biomimetic materials and devices to study mechanical interactions within epithelial tissues. His program is structured around three main thrusts: (1) developing dynamic microenvironments such as elastomeric microtubes and photoresponsive hydrogels; (2) quantitatively analyzing the collective dynamics and mechanical properties of cell assemblies under curvature and confinement; and (3) elucidating the molecular and physical mechanisms that regulate mechanotransduction. These projects integrate experimental biophysics, advanced imaging, materials science, bioengineering, and modeling to understand how geometry and matrix dynamics drive morphogenesis and cell differentiation.
Epithelial tissues grown on varying curvature
Wang Xi’s research has been supported by multiple competitive international and national grants, including the European Union’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie program, the PRESTIGE program (Campus France and EU), the Labex Who am I?, CNRS DEFI Biomimicry, the DIM ELICIT regional program (Île-de-France), and the French National Research Agency (ANR, project Ctrl-TISSCURV 2026–2030). He also benefits from collaborative funding between Université Paris Cité and the NUS.
Wang Xi collaborates closely with physicists, biologists, and bioengineers in France, Europe, and internationally. These collaborations bridge fundamental biophysics with biomedical and tissue engineering applications.
Selected publications include:
- Nature Communications (2017): Emergent patterns of collective cell migration under tubular confinement.
- Advanced Materials (2018): Biological Tissues as Active Nematic Liquid Crystals.
- Nature Reviews Materials (2019): Material approaches to active tissue mechanics.
- Science Advances (2022): The emergence of spontaneous coordinated epithelial rotation on cylindrical curved surfaces.
- Biomaterials (2022): Designer biomimetic matrices for intestinal epithelial cultures.
- Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (2024): A minimal physical model for curvotaxis driven by curved protein complexes at the cell’s leading edge.
- Nature Communications (2025): A multicellular star-shaped actin network underpins epithelial organization and connectivity.
- Biophysical Journal (2025): The enteric nervous system is ten times stiffer than the brain.
Wang Xi is active in scientific outreach through the participation and organization of international conferences (2025 Mechanobiology Conference III, Quy Nhon, Vietnam) and presentations at interdisciplinary symposia.