Abstract

The mechanical properties of dense tissues control many biological processes, from wound healing to embryonic development to cancer progression. In this talk I will discuss recent theoretical work that combines developmental models with active matter physics to describe dense tissue as active materials that exhibit a jamming-unjamming transition tuned by cell shape and cell motility. Mechanical feedback that coordinates cell migration, as well as interaction with the environment, can modify the transition resulting in novel tissue ``materials’’ properties. These findings may have implications for cell sorting and patterning in wound healing and development.

About the speaker

Prof. M. Cristina Marchetti is a theoretical physicist specializing in statistical physics and soft condensed matter physics. In 2019, she received the Leo P. Kadanoff Prize of the American Physical Society for "...original contributions to equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, including profound work on equilibrium and driven vortex systems, and fundamental research and leadership in the growing field of active matter". She is currently Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Website: https://marchetti.physics.ucsb.edu/