Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 13: Active matter I (joint session BP/CPP/DY)
BP 13.7: Invited Talk
Wednesday, April 3, 2019, 11:15–11:45, H4
Non-equilibrium dynamics in biological matter — •Christoph F Schmidt — Georg-August-Universität, Fakultät für Physik, Drittes Physikalisches Institut - Biophysik, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1, 37077 Göttingen — Duke University, Department of Physics, 2316 French Family Science Center, 124 Science Drive, Durham, NC 27708, USA
Thermodynamic non-equilibrium is a defining feature of living systems on all levels of organization. Cells and tissues are built of active matter, dynamic materials with built-in force generators. Such materials self-organize in biological systems into well-ordered dynamic steady states, sustained by the dissipation of metabolic energy. The materials show striking collective phenomena on a mesoscopic scale. We used light microscopy to characterize the complex mechanical properties of and the motion and stress patterns in biological active matter, in particular the actin cortex, both in reconstituted model systems and in cells. I will introduce a method to detect and quantitate thermodynamic non-equilibrium in the dynamics of primary cilia of kidney epithelial cells using the principle of detailed balance.