There are still many unanswered question about the function of medial-apical actomyosin aMy third chapter shows that the scaffolding protein Anillin dramatically increased medial-apical actomyosin and this leads to dramatic changes in the mechanics of epithelial cells.
How are they controled and regulated and differentiated? Does one feed into the other? 
Dissertation goals
In this dissertation, I investigate how epithelial cells respond to mechanical cues and regulate their cellular mechanics.  In Chapter 2, I describe how vertebrate epithelial cells maintain the barrier function of the tissue during cytokinesis by reinforcing their cell-cell junctions in response to forces generated by the contractile ring. In Chapter 3, I explore how the scaffolding protein Anillin contributes to epithelial cell and tissue mechanics. Preliminary experiments hinted that Anillin functions in generating tension in line with cell-cell junctions via the circumferential actomyosin belt, however, upon deeper investigation I found a new role for Anillin in dramatically organizing medial-apical actomyosin which has mechanical affects at the cellular, tissue, and whole embryo level. In Chapter 4 I discuss the implications of my findings in the context of the field and propose future experiments that I would be interested in pursuing.