From mechanobiology to developmentally inspired engineering

The field of mechanobiology emerged based on the recognition of the central role that physical forces play in development and physiology. In this article, which is based on a lecture I presented at the 2018 Royal Society meeting on Mechanics of Development, I review work from my laboratory carried out over the 40 years which helped to birth this field. I will also describe how we are leveraging the fundamental design principles that govern mechanoregulation to develop new experimental tools and organ-engineering approaches as well as novel mechanotherapeutics. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Mechanics of development’.