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SFB 937:  Collective Behaviour of Soft and Biological Matter

Subject Area Physics
Biology
Term from 2011 to 2019
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 178321814
 
Final Report Year 2020

Final Report Abstract

Living systems are structurally complex, heterogeneous, and by definition far from thermodynamic equilibrium. In condensed matter physics, the complex behavior of many-particle systems has been very successfully analyzed with the concepts of statistical physics. The strength of a statistical approach is the capability to efficiently describe the collective behavior of large systems with many interacting degrees of freedom. In recent years, non-equilibrium soft-matter systems - short “active matter” -, especially as found in biology, have rapidly moved into the focus of interest. Prominent examples are the materials cells are made from. Understanding how a living cell functions or an organism develops requires a statistical description that goes beyond well-established equilibrium statistical phys- ics. The rapid development of experimental techniques has given unprecedented access to physical properties of molecules, macromolecular aggregates, cells and tissues. Against this background it is timely to ask questions beyond the molecular level of organization in soft and biological matter and to pursue an integrative approach to understand collective non-equilibrium physical phenomena on the microscopic to the mesoscopic or even macroscopic level by applying a broad range of experimental, numerical and theoretical tools. The collaborative research center (CRC) 937 aimed at a quantitative understanding of the physical mechanisms at work when soft and biological matter self-organizes into complex structures to perform dynamic functions such as cell division, cell locomotion or tissue development. With this goal in mind, we analyzed the ways in which macromolecules and cells interact physically, exert forces, respond viscoelastically, move, and self-organize into complex functional patterns on all length scales, ranging from polymers and lipid membranes over cells to tissues. We combined physics, chemistry, biology and medicine, as well as theory, modeling and experiment and em- ployed a two-pronged approach, studying simplified model systems on the one hand, and whole cells, organisms and tissues on the other hand. The major achievements of the CRC 937 are (i) the measurement and theoretical modeling of the viscoelastic and hydrodynamic properties of model systems ranging from polymer brushes and cross-linked passive networks over actively contracting networks to minimal cell cortices, (ii) the assessment of the athermal cell-substrate dynamics during adhesion, growth and migration and (iii) the collective behavior of beating cells, biofilms and developing Drosophila embryos. Apart from these fundamental insights, the research groups identified and developed new model systems to study various aspects of collective phenomena. In parallel, methods and tools comprising new microscopy and simulation techniques were adapted and optimized to examine these systems.

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