Research Group Leader at @mpi_pks and @csbdresden. Previously @HFSP postdoc @Princeton, and PhD @FisicaUB. Biophysics theory and active matter physics.
Check our new paper @PhysRevE showing how spatial variability in growth affects the buckling transition! Useful way for tissues to control buckling just by localizing growth. With Rahul G. Ramachandran and @lepuslapis@mpi_pks. See Pierre's thread below!
https://t.co/mQRl2W8MpG
It's great to see this now published @PhysRevE!
https://t.co/gjsgtMKTV7
See below for a thread summarising the preprint - but of course you should read the paper for some solid mechanics...
Analytical calculations and numerical sampling reveals the effects of spatially disordered growth on buckling instability of elastic rods, showing how biological systems could trigger or avoid buckling and thereby control a key driver of morphogenesis.
🔗 https://t.co/lPgTAGBmMp
Check out this opportunity for summer internships in biological physics! Please apply before Dec. 9th to work for 3 months with one of the groups @mpi_pks.
New preprint! We introduce active screws: a new class of active particles that propel by spinning on a substrate. There are several examples: from from gliding microtubules to soil bacteria, and even magnetically-driven colloidal helices.
https://t.co/qNJMvF7W4f
This was work with Debarghya Banerjee, which we started when he was @mpi_pks. If you know of other examples of active screws, or you wonder about their collective behavior, please let me know!
We found that there are small chiral flows around topological defects, with a chiral activity about an order of magnitude smaller than the achiral one. Could slow rolling motion of the cells explain it?
If the screws also roll sideways, they produce chiral active stresses. So, rolling is a mechanism whereby the chirality of individual constituents can give rise to collective chiral effects.
In other types of active chiral particles, the axis of rotation and propulsion are different. In active screws, the axis of rotation and propulsion are the same.
📢 The call for distinguished @mpi_pks fellows is open! We provide excellent 3-year postdoc positions that allow full independence to outstanding candidates. Please apply!
Opening for a Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellow @mpi_pks ! This is an independent Fellowship with free choice of research topics and individual appearance on our research page https://t.co/MPWyw97kaT , apply by 15 November:
https://t.co/SY5uzzHThw
Cells move in groups often led by specialised leader cells. Work @NaturePhysics by @RicardAlert@mpi_pks & collaborators shows that leader cells cannot autonomously guide groups: followers must contribute to build a global force asymmetry for group motion. https://t.co/QeFEvEHH66
#RecercaUB | 🦠 Un estudi demostra que en el moviment col·lectiu cel·lular hi participen totes les cèl·lules, sense cèl·lules guia, com es pensava fins ara.
🔬 Lidera @XavierTrepat, de la #UniBarcelona i @IBECBarcelona.
👉https://t.co/kNTmykBZPh
👉News piece about our recent work @NaturePhysics on cell trains! @LeoneRossetti in @XavierTrepat's lab generated leader cells with light. We used these experiments to develop a model for how asymmetries in traction forces drive collective cell migration.
Congratulations to Daniel Bonn, Antoine Deblais, Tess Heeremans and Sander Woutersen! They won an Ig Nobel prize for their research in which they investigate the behaviour of drunk worms as a particular form of active matter. https://t.co/NXrPeub9Y2