Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 12: Cytoskeleton I

BP 12.10: Talk

Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 12:15–12:30, BAR/0205

Bridging Scales in the Cytoskeleton: Towards a nonperturbative renormalization group framework — •Patrick Jentsch, Thomas Quail, Niccolò Banterle, and Anna Erzberger — European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany

Microtubules (MTs) and their interactions are microscopically well characterized, yet the connection between these interactions and the emergent, functionally relevant collective behavior of the cytoskeleton remains incomplete. To develop an analytic framework that links these scales, we aim to explore the use of nonperturbative renormalization group (NPRG) methods to derive large-scale effective theories of MT networks from a microscopic model of interacting MTs. Using Xenopus laevis egg extract as a model system, we have begun inferring a phenomenological theory of interacting MTs at the micrometer scale based on TIRF microscopy data. In the next stage, this model will be coarse-grained using NPRG methods to obtain an effective description at the millimeter scale, enabling us to track the scale dependence of interaction couplings and the emergence of new dynamical processes. Ultimately, the resulting effective theory will be evaluated by comparing predicted correlation functions with experimental measurements of spontaneously formed MT asters which we are currently imaging using millimeter-scale widefield and confocal techniques.

Keywords: renormalization group; microtubules; doi-peliti; field theory; cytoskeleton