The scutoid is a new geometrical shape discovered from a fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration between mathematics (Alberto Márquez and Clara Grima), physics and biology, the team being led by the biologist Luis M. Escudero. The direct application is related to the way the epithelial adopt its form. It has been traditionally assumed that cells grows up as prism with polygonal faces. Nevertheless, it is proved that the scutoid makes possible the minimization of the tissue energy and stabilize three-dimensional packing. Hence, scutoids are one of nature’s solutions to achieve epithelial bending, providing a new framework to explain the shape of epithelia. The scutoid phenomena has had a big impact on the scientific community and also in the world wide media.
Here we highlight some of their goals and activities complementing the related success story to science on this topic.
