Biophysics Seminar - Joseph d'Alessandro (Institut Jacques-Monod)

Local cell-cell interactions and large-scale coordination in moving cell groups.

In living tissues, cells exhibit various degrees of mobility and coordination of their movements. These motions are powered by the self-propulsion of individual cells, which also interact with their neighbours and their environment. In particular, the physical contacts between cells are known to mediate the transmission of information, which is further processed to alter the dynamics – e.g. speed, direction – of their motion. With a physicist’s view, a cell colony could thus be viewed as a collection of polar active particles with interactions between their positions – forces – and their polarities – akin to spin interactions. Yet, the actual validity of this view and its detailed features still remain elusive. In this talk, I will show how one can make use of micropatterned adhesive tracks to bridge the scales in that matter. Indeed, by following epithelial cells on such tracks we could characterise both the properties of collective motion and the cell-cell pair interactions. Including our observations into a lowest-order particle-based model allowed us to explain how local interactions that apparently favour disorder may not prevent large-scale order in particular situations. I will then discuss the possibilities offered by this set-up to a finer understanding of the cell-cell interactions.

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Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88108940479?pwd=czQ3d0VHWEVaUHJZVnFpc3M4d0dnZz09

Meeting ID: 881 0894 0479
Passcode: 724531
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Organizers: Antonio Costa, Philippe Marcq and Raphael Jeanneret