Welcome to the Trenado-Yuste Lab! We
study the biophysical principles that emerge from interactions among tissues, bacterial communities, and their surroundings.
We combine experiments, theory, and simulations to address biophysical questions that cannot be tackled by any single approach alone. Using microfabricated approaches, we engineer controlled microenvironments that enable rigorous quantitative analysis. We then develop biophysically motivated models to interpret experiments and make testable predictions. This multidisciplinary strategy helps us understand how tissues and microbes respond to and actively reshape their surroundings in health and disease.
Our Lab combines expertise in biology, physics, and engineering. We value curiosity, quantitative thinking, and interdisciplinary collaboration, and we are excited by questions that challenge conventional boundaries between fields.
TEAM
Group Leader
Dr. Carolina Trenado-Yuste is a Principal Investigator at NOVA Institute for Medical Systems Biology (NIMSB). She earned a BS in Mathematics in 2015 from the Universidad de Salamanca, followed by an MS in Applied Mathematics in 2017 and a PhD in Mathematical Engineering from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid in 2021. She then joined the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering and the Lewis-Singler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University, first as a New Jersey Cancer Research Fellow and later as a Damon Runyon Quantitative Biology Postdoctoral Fellow. Her research focuses on understanding how microbial communities and tissues shape health and disease.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
M. Kohram*, C. Trenado-Yuste*, M. C. Brennan-Smith*, E. S. Navarro Salazar, P. Zhang, J. E. Hao, X. Xu, B. M. Chavre, W. Oh, S. X. Zhang, S. E. Leggett, R-P Ryseck, J. D. Rabinowitz, and C. M. Nelson†. Fat promotes growth and invasion in a 3D microfluidic tumor model of triple-negative breast cancer. APL bioengineering (2026) (doi:10/1/016111/3381798)
C. Trenado-Yuste, and C. M. Nelson†. Fuel, form, and memory: The motility-driven journey of cancer cells. Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering (2025) (doi:10.1016/j.cobme.2025.100624.)
R. Porter*, C. Trenado-Yuste*, A. Martínez-Calvo*, Morgan Su, N. S. Wingreen, S. S. Datta, and K.C. Huang†. On the growth and form of microbial communities. Nature Reviews Physics (2025) (doi:10.1038/s42254-025-00849-x)
A. Martínez-Calvo*, C. Trenado-Yuste*, H. Lee, J. Gore, N. S. Wingreen, S. S. Datta†. Interfacial morphodynamics of proliferating microbial communities. Physical Review X (2025) (doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.15.011016)
C. Trenado-Yuste†*, L.L. Bonilla*, and A. Martinez-Calvo†* (2021) Fingering instability in spreading epithelial monolayers. Roles of cell polarisation, substrate friction and contractile stresses. Soft Matter (2021) Paper of the year award, 2021
*Co-first authors, †Corresponding authors