MPI-DS Colloquium: BioInspired Self-Organization to Build the Materials of Tomorrow

MPI-DS Colloquium

  • Datum: 26.04.2023
  • Uhrzeit: 14:15 - 15:15
  • Vortragende(r): Prof. Jennifer Ross
  • Syracuse University, Department of Physics, Bio-Active Matter Lab
  • Ort: Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation (MPIDS)
  • Raum: Prandtl Lecture Hall
  • Gastgeber: MPIDS
  • Kontakt: gd@ds.mpg.de
Biological systems have the incredible ability to harness active, energy-using systems to cause self-organization resulting in astonishing capabilities such as monitoring, healing, and responding to their environment. It appears that biological systems can rectify active processes into productive work using enzymes, assemblies of enzymes, and larger-scale machines made of those assemblies. We seek to recapitulate and understand the phenomena of biological self-organization from the molecular to the cellular scale in the hopes of someday recreating synthetic systems with the same astonishing properties. In our lab, we have focused on two main systems - the cytoskeleton and enzyme-driven active matter. The cytoskeleton is a naturally occurring biological system that is not only used for mechanical structures but is made from enzymes with a host of associated proteins that are both passive and active. The natural functions of the cytoskeleton offer a unique glimpse into how cells self-organize to perform essential functions such as motility, transport, and cell division. The second, relatively new direction, takes a synthetic approach using DNA-origami to program active matter particles that are driven by enzymes. This approach will allow us to explore the fundamental mechanisms that rectify active process such as shape, orientation, and multiplicity of active units. We will report on new findings from both systems. Future explorations of these systems will inform on the mechanistic workings of biological systems and allow us to make inroads on the materials of the future.
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