BioLight Seminar: Active matter meets Biophysics
Prof Julia M Yeomans OBE FRS
IoP Tom Duke Prize Lecture on Biological Physics
Special seminar Tuesday 25th November 12.00
School of Physics and Astronomy, Lecture Theatre C
Talk title: Active matter meets biophysics
The Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics
Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PU, UK
Prof Julia Yeomans is the current recipient of the Tom Duke Prize, a prestigious Institute of Physics (IoP) award which the Biological Physics Group (BPG) bestows to an individual who has made exceptional impacts to the field of biological physics.
Abstract
Life defies equilibrium. Cells self-organise molecular components into intricate structures that enable them to grow, reproduce, and move. At a larger scale, collections of cells follow coordinated pathways of division, differentiation and reorganisation as a single cell develops into a mature organism.
Active systems, driven by energy input at the level of individual particles, also exist out of thermodynamic equilibrium. Dense active matter shows distinctive collective behaviour: active turbulence, motile topological defects and co-ordinated flows, reminiscent of the rotation of cell clusters or the swirling patterns of a starling murmuration.
In this talk, I will discuss how the ideas of active matter physics are offering fresh perspectives on mechanobiology and developmental biology: from the structure of lesions in invasive breast cancer to the rheology of active cell monolayers.
The seminar is jointly organized by the School of Physics and Astronomy and the Centre of Biophotonics