Dresden 2020 – scientific programme

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SYES: Symposium Spain as Guest of Honor

SYES 1: Spain as Guest of Honor I

SYES 1.2: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2020, 10:00–10:30, HSZ 02

Mechanics of life: Cellular forces and mechanics far from thermodynamic equilibrium — •Timo Betz — Institute of Cell Biology, University Münster, Germany

Living organisms are dauntingly complex structures that operate with high robustness on the micrometer scale. Inherently, cells and tissues are dealing with both thermal but also active noise, which is generated by random uncorrelated internal forces driving the system far away from thermodynamic equilibrium. From a research perspective these characteristics are one reason why biological systems are so challenging to measure and to perform reproducible experiments on. The complexity also challenges theoretical models, as these aim at simplification. Here we focus on the mechanical aspects and force generation in single cells and tissue by exploring their non-equilibrium nature. We discuss recent experimental and theoretical approaches which reveal new insights in the underlying physics used in biological systems to perform their individual functions.