School of Mechanical Engineering Seminar
Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 15:00
Wolfson Building of Mechanical Engineering, Room 206

Dynamics of growth-driven cellular soft matter: competition, material evolution  and emergent forces

Yoav G. Pollack

Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS), Göttingen, Germany.

Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (MPI-NAT), Göttingen, Germany.

Proliferating active matter deals with non-equilibrium systems, driven microscopically by local growth, reproduction, and element removal. Natural multicellular systems such as tissues and biofilms are prime candidates, but relevant examples are starting to appear also in synthetically generated cells and even in metamaterial robotic systems. Dense systems of this sort can be described as soft matter, but can also exhibit novel features that are not available in inert and thermal matter or even in motility-driven active matter. For example, cell competition, which is the main focus of this talk, can lead to an evolution of the material composition and its properties. I will discuss stochastic competition for free space in confined systems with cell turnover and consider the special importance of passive matter elimination in this scenario, revealing a new fitness advantage.

    The study of such competition can both help in understanding biological processes such as biofilm development, tissue morphogenesis and tumour growth as well as in formulating design principles for novel biomechanical materials. 

    We will then switch gears to discuss new possibilities for self-assembly in such systems via effective forces emerging out of the active turnover dynamics. I will present preliminary work revealing such cell mediated forces acting between passive objects; forces that are both long range and which can have interesting functional behaviour.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://tau-ac-il.zoom.us/j/4962025174?pwd=bVJUeElXRUUya3BERisyNllLOE9EZz09