Stochasticity and robustness in plant morphogenesis

How do organisms cope with cellular variability to achieve well-defined morphologies and architectures? We are addressing this question by combining experiments with live plants and analyses of (stochastic) models that integrate cell-cell communication and tissue mechanics. During the talk, I will first take the opportunity of the centennial of D’Arcy Thompson’s book to discuss a mathematical feature of leaf morphogenesis. I will then present our counterintuitive results on the role of noise in development.