Regensburg 2019 – scientific programme

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PLV: Plenarvorträge

PLV II

PLV II: Plenary Talk

Monday, April 1, 2019, 14:00–14:45, H1

Self-propelled topological defects in biological systems — •Julia M Yeomans — The Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, UK

Active materials, such as bacteria, molecular motors and self-propelled colloids, are Nature's engines. They continuously transform chemical energy from their environment to mechanical work. Dense active matter shows mesoscale turbulence, the emergence of chaotic flow structures characterised by high vorticity and self-propelled topological defects.

The ideas of active matter are suggesting new ways of interpreting cell motility and cell division. I shall discuss recent results indicating that active topological defects may help to regulate turnover in epithelial cell layers and contribute to controlling the structure of bacterial colonies.