From contraction waves to rupture resistance – biological tissues as active solids

Date:
09
Sunday
February
2020
Lecture / Seminar
Time: 03:00-04:00
Location: Perlman Chemical Sciences Building
Lecturer: Dr. Shahaf Armon
Organizer: Department of Molecular Chemistry and Materials Science
Contact: ana.naamat@weizmann.ac.il
Details: Dept. Physics of Complex Systems, WIS
Abstract: Following our recent observations of contraction waves in the primitive epitheli ... Read more Following our recent observations of contraction waves in the primitive epithelium of Placozoa, we develop a model of tissues as sheets of contractile cells. The simple model assumes only a strain-threshold for contraction, and explains/predicts a variety of unique and surprising phenomena, e.g.: contraction waves in response to external stress, spontaneously-compressed steady-state, emerged limit-cycles, mechanical frustration and active resistance to rupture. In the talk I will present both the experimental observations and the model results. This model of “active cohesion” may be relevant to any epithelial tissue, to manufacturing of synthetic active materials, and to models of evolution of multicellularity.
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