Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Updates | Downloads | Help
BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 6: Poster I
BP 6.60: Poster
Monday, April 1, 2019, 17:30–19:30, Poster B2
Active contraction of biopolymer networks in elastic confinement — •Johannes Flommersfeld — Center for NanoScience (CeNS), Department of Physics, Ludwig-Maximilans-Universität München, Germany
Mechanical properties of cells are largely determined by their cytoskeleton, a complex network consisting of biopolymers and molecular crosslinks. The interaction of actin filaments and the molecular motor myosin plays a central role in cell biology, since it gives rise to various forms of cell movement including muscle contractions and cell division. In vivo such actin myosin networks are usually confined by an elastic cell membrane. Recent studies of confined active fluids have revealed a strong dependence of the systems properties on the parameters of the confining walls, which is in stark contrast to passive systems. Since actin-myosin assemblies are intrinsically active, these findings raise the question if the properties of the boundaries influence the behavior of such networks. To investigate this question, we present a simple model of contractile networks, with which we can investigate how the boundaries steer the dynamics and the final state of an actively contracting network.