Dresden 2026 – wissenschaftliches Programm
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 14: Poster Session II
BP 14.11: Poster
Dienstag, 10. März 2026, 18:00–21:00, P2
Mechanosensing by active singularities — •Fabian Knüpfer1, Jonas Neipel1,2, and Frank Jülicher1 — 1Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany — 2Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics, Dresden, Germany
During the development of an animal, the self-organized formation of chemical patterns establishes the body plan, defining body axes as well as the midline. However, the overall symmetry of an embryo is typically broken before, in particular due to environmental cues. Here we investigate how mechanical cues can control pattern formation. Motivated by the egg-shell that confines various embryos, we consider a rigid heterogenous substrate coupling to an active fluid surface. We focus on localized centers of mechanical activity, i.e. multipoles and topological defects of the active stress field. We ask how variations in friction and substrate curvature impact on the movement of such active singularities. We show that monopoles of isotropic active tension are advected towards maxima in friction. We then discuss how on a curved surface gradients in Gaussian curvature map to friction gradients to explain the localization of stress multipoles in anisotropic geometries. Finally, we explore how in an active nematic, topological defects move along gradients in friction and substrate curvature.
Keywords: Active surfaces; Topological Defects; Curvature sensing; Active fluids; Pattern formation