Abstract: Multicellular organisms are shaped through coordination of cellular machines that generate cell movement and shape and genes that establish cell identities during development. Understanding how complex tissues are formed and patterned in the embryo by mechanisms that connect gene regulation, cellular effectors and tissue-scale mechanics in a 3D environment remains a significant challenge. To address this, we investigate mechanisms that control cell and tissue morphogenesis and cell fate specification in forming tissues during gastrulation of early zebrafish embryos. We currently focus on two highly dynamic neighbouring germ layers in the embryo and show that mechanical signalling can occur across tissue boundaries influencing behaviour of cells in the adjacent tissue layer. Using a combination of live cell imaging, biophysical tools, and computational modelling, we explore mechanisms of force generation, transduction and integration on tissue-scale that drive morphogenetic events such as cell rearrangements and pattering in the neural plate and mesendoderm collective cell migration. Linking these mechanical events to processes on gene expression level will provide a multimodal dataset that enables integrated analysis of interrelated mechanisms at play to mediate formation of early embryonic tissues.