Grups de recerca
30
oct
Col·loquis FMC: Prof. Ricard Alert
Ens plau informar-vos que el pròxim col·loqui del Departament serà a càrrec del Ricard Alert que ens parlarà de fluids actius. El col·loqui tindrà lloc el proper dimecres 30 d'octubre a les 14h a l'Aula Magna Enric Casassas.
Active Fluids: Topological Defects, Frictiotaxis, and Flocking
Prof. Ricard Alert
Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems and the Center for Systems Biology Dresden.
Active fluids display striking collective phenomena not possible in passive fluids. In this talk, I will discuss three examples connected with experiments in both biological and artificial systems. First, I will show that dense colonies of the soil bacterium Myxococcus xanthus form active liquid crystals. I will show that topological defects of the cell alignment field induce flows that lead to the formation of new cell layers, triggering the development of multicellular structures called fruiting bodies. Second, I will show that cells lacking cell-substrate adhesions migrate along friction gradients. We call this phenomenon frictiotaxis, which is a new type of cell guidance. Third, I will present a new mechanism for flocking whereby self-propelled particles can align and move collectively despite turning away from each other.
Mini bio – Ricard Alert is a Max Planck Research Group Leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in Dresden, Germany, where he has recently established a group on the "Physics of Living Matter." Ricard obtained his PhD from the University of Barcelona in 2018. He then was an HFSP postdoctoral fellow at the Princeton Center for Theoretical Science from 2018 to 2021. His research focuses on developing the physics of active matter to understand collective behaviors in cells and tissues, such as collective cell migration, self-organization in bacterial colonies, and active turbulence.
