Berlin 2018 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 17: Active Matter II (joint session DY/CPP/BP)

CPP 17.11: Talk

Monday, March 12, 2018, 18:15–18:30, BH-N 243

Active droplet model of cellular aggregates — •Hui-Shun Kuan, Frank Jülicher, and Vasily Zaburdaev — Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany

Active systems appear in various biological contexts such as cell cytoskeleton and bacterial colonies. Such systems may exhibit phase separation, which is not governed by free energy minimization. In this talk, we use the concept of phase separation to study the formation of bacterial colonies, of N. gonorrhoeae, due to active force generation by cell appendages type IV pili. We use a hydrodynamics approach, representing bacterial colonies as active droplets, which exhibit different surface profiles and position-dependent motility gradients. In addition, the coalescence of two such droplets exhibits two time scales which cannot be understood by the surface tension and viscosity. Our theoretical description of active droplets provides means of describing bacterial colonies and can be extended to other cell types.