SEMINAR 2021

Abstract

Living systems are representative of soft material systems working under far-from-equilibrium conditions by consumption of chemical energy. Materials working under such conditions, like living cells and their cytoskeletons containing molecular motors, are generically called active matter. Emergence of dynamic structures and coherent dynamics as active matter is one of the key processes to achieve complex structures and functions for living systems. For example, living cells exhibit collective migration and dynamic organization by relying on their complex intercellular communication. Studying such cellular dynamic self-organization processes enables us to extend our knowledge of out-of-equilibrium and softmatter physics. 

In this presentation, I will address theoretically how contact communication between cells influence dynamic self-organization of migrating cells. First, the concept of collective motion of self-propelled particles will be explained, where the constituent self-propelled particles are active matter elements which move according to its intrinsic polarity. Then, by combining the collective motion concept to a model of single-cell migratory behavior [1,2], an individual cell-based model to study dynamics of migrating cells in population will be introduced [3, 4]. Numerical results from such model in which migrating cells perform two types of contact communications ubiquitous for cells will be explained [4]. Some results will be compared with experimental observations of dynamic patterns of cellular slime mold, social amoeba [5]. If time permits, I will mention how this work can contribute to the investigations of dynamic self-organization in non-living active material systems [6,7,8]. These studies pave the way toward revealing new control principles and possible engineering of active material systems expressing dynamic self-organization.