Dr. Maik Christian Bischoff
Mechanisms of Organ Looping Morphogenesis
Cell Biology / Molecular Biology
Cell Mechanics
Development
Morphogenesis
Organ Chirality
Chirality is pervasive in nature. Many tubular organs, such as gut and heart, rely on defined left-right handedness for their function. However, how asymmetry arises during development is still not well understood. The Drosophila testis offers a powerful and accessible model to study chiral looping morphogenesis. During pupal development, mesenchymal muscle precursors transform an initially ellipsoid testes into a set of spirals with consistent handedness. Our work investigates how this transformation occurs across scales. At the subcellular and cellular levels, we analyze how cytoskeletal components, such as the chiral motor protein Myosin 1D, microtubules, and Wnt/planar cell polarity signaling, shape the behaviors of individual cells. At the tissue level, we combine quantitative imaging with biomechanical modeling to understand how coordinated cell movements and forces give rise to organ-wide chirality. Finally, we extend this analysis to an evolutionary scale. Across the Drosophila genus, testis morphology has diversified dramatically, ranging from non-spiraled organs to hyper-spiraled testes with hundreds of revolutions. By comparing species, we investigate how looping morphogenesis has changed in evolution and which molecular programs underlie this variability. Our goal is to reveal how mesenchymal cells generate organ shape, size, and handedness, and how these features evolve across species.
Vita
- 2011 – 2016 Studies in Biology, University of Gießen
- 2016 - 2021 Doctorate at the Institute of Physiology and Pathophysiology, '
University of Marburg, followed by a transitional Postdoc. - 2022 - 2023 DFG Walter Benjamin Fellow at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
- 2023 – 2025 Postdoc at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
- Since 2025 Junior Group Leader at the Institute of Integrative Cell Biology and Physiology,
University of Münster.
Selected references
Bischoff MC, Mayor R. (2025). Patterning in motion: Cell interfaces guide mesenchymal collective migration and morphogenesis. JCB 224(11): e202505198
Bischoff MC, Norton JE, Clark SE, Peifer M. (2025). Plexin/Semaphorin antagonism orchestrates collective cell migration and organ sculpting by regulating epithelial-mesenchymal balance. Sci. Adv. 11(25): eadu3741
Bischoff MC, Norton JE, Munguia EA, Gurley NJ, Clark SE, Korankye R, Addai Gyabaah E, Encarnacion T, Serody C, Jones C, Peifer M. (2025). A large reverse-genetic screen identifies numerous regulators of testis nascent myotube collective cell migration and collective organ sculpting. MBoC 36(2): ar21
Bischoff MC, Bogdan S. (2021). Collective cell migration driven by filopodia – New insights from the social behavior of myotubes. BioEssays 43 (11): 2100124
Bischoff MC, Lieb S, Renkawitz-Pohl R, Bogdan S. (2021). Filopodia based contact stimulation of cell migration drives tissue morphogenesis. Nat Commun 12 (1): 1–18
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