Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 30: Posters: Physics of Cells

BP 30.33: Poster

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 17:15–20:00, P3

Forces in cellular growth and division — •Nils Podewitz — Group for Biophysics & Evolutionary Dynamics, MPI for Dynamics & Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany

When cells grow and divide to from clusters, colonies or dense tissues, they exert mechanical forces onto their surroundings in order to free space for new cells. Obviously there is a maximal force at which cells will stop growing. Until now it is not fully understood why they stop growing and what these stall forces are.

To study this phenomenon we encaged yeast cells in a microfluidic chamber made of an elastic polymer. The deformation of the chamber wall then let us deduce the pressure exerted by the cells, providing us with a relation between cell growth and the forces involved.

Our findings could be relevant to the early stages of biofilm formation as well as allowing insight into tissue dynamics in higher organisms.