MRSEC Distinguished Seminar Series
co-sponsored by IBNAM

Constructing Tools for Describing Cell and Tissue Dynamics

Jacques Prost

Director of ESPCI

ESPCI and Curie Institute UMR168,
10 rue Vauquelin, 75231 Paris cedex05, France

Tuesday, December 6, 2011, 2:30 PM- 3:30 PM

Reception to follow seminar

Pancoe Auditorium

Much of the cell mechanics, morphology and motility is determined by the dynamical properties of an actin network moving under the action of molecular motors and by a continuous process of polymerization/depolymerization called treadmilling. The actin network constitutes a physical gel the cross-links of which are both temporary and mobile. It is more complex than a physical gel in that it has a macroscopic polarity due to the microscopic polarity of actin filaments and in that the cross-links are dynamically redistributed by molecular motors. I will show how one can write down a set of phenomenological equations, which can describe this situation. I will illustrate the usefulness of this approach by considering a few examples concerning cell dynamics such as cell duplication, cell wound healing and stress fibers. Eventually, I will show how a simple extension of this theory allows us to discuss salient features of tissue dynamics, such as growth of micro-metastasis and intestinal villi.

Biography:

Jacques Prost is a French physicist and general director of École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI). He is an alumni of the École Normale Supérieure de Saint-Cloud and conducted postdoctoral research at Harvard University. He founded and headed the Theoretical Physico-Chemistry Group of the ESPCI ParisTech under the direction of Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, where Prost worked on liquid crystal and soft matter properties. Prost also founded the Physical Chemistry Curie lab at the Curie Institute in Paris. His current research focuses on physical approaches to biological problems related to cell motion, molecular motors, the properties of biological membranes, and protein adhesion. Jacques Prost was the scientific advisor to Elf Aquitaine from 1990 to 1999. He has been a member of the French Academy of Sciences since 2007 and general director of ESPCI ParisTech since 2003.