Carina Dunlop has been awarded a £120k EPSRC First Grant on the topic of “Modelling the mechanics of epithelial sheets on soft substrates: nonlinearity, feedback, and dissipation“.  The 24 month project starts on 1st January 2015.  The aim of the project is to develop a novel mathematical model for soft tissue-matrix interactions that accounts for a) mechanotransductive feedback from tissue to cell, b) stress relaxation in cell-matrix bonding and that c) allows for the complexity of the material response of the underlying gel matrix. The model is designed to be compartmental allowing for each mechanism to be analysed both in isolation and in combination providing insight as to the relative importance of different physical factors in tissue development.