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

Local cell-cell interactions and large-scale coordination in movingcellgroups.

In living tissues, cellsexhibitvariousdegrees of mobilityand coordination of theirmovements. These motions are powered by the self-propulsion of individualcells, whichalsointeractwiththeirneighboursandtheirenvironment. In particular, thephysical contacts betweencells are known to mediatethe transmission of information, which is furtherprocessed to alter thedynamics – e.g. speed, direction – of their motion. With a physicist’sview, a cellcolonycouldthus be viewed as a collection of polar active particleswith interactions betweentheir positions – forces – andtheirpolarities – akin to spin interactions. Yet, theactualvalidity of thisviewanditsdetailedfeaturesstillremainelusive. In thistalk, I will show howonecanmake use of micropatternedadhesivetracks to bridge thescales in thatmatter. Indeed, by followingepithelialcells on suchtracks we couldcharacteriseboththeproperties of collective motion andthecell-cell pair interactions. Includingour observations into a lowest-order particle-basedmodelallowed us to explainhow local interactions thatapparentlyfavourdisordermaynotprevent large-scaleorder in particular situations. I willthendiscussthepossibilitiesoffered by this set-up to a finerunderstanding of thecell-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