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SUMMARY:Morphology and Mechanics of Cellular Matter: from Tilings to Tissu
 es - Sascha Hilgenfeldt (University of Illinois)
DTSTART:20170522T120000Z
DTEND:20170522T130000Z
UID:TALK72748@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Julius Bier Kirkegaard
DESCRIPTION:The term Cellular Matter denotes materials consisting of separ
 ate neighboring domains that fill space in two or three dimensions. Whethe
 r ordered or disordered\, the domain structure is a crucial factor in unde
 rstanding overall material properties ranging from mechanical elasticity t
 o long-time aging. Important examples range from foams and emulsions to po
 lycrystals and biological tissues. In all cases\, the discrete domain stru
 cture poses challenges to both the statistical description of the morpholo
 gy and to the mechanical description of equilibrium or non-equilibrium mat
 erial states. Focusing primarily on ordered and disordered biological tiss
 ues\, this talk presents experimental results and provides insights from s
 imple modeling ideas to attempt answers to a some of these challenges. It 
 is shown that long-standing empirical correlations in the morphology of ce
 llular matter\, such as Lewis’ Law\, can be explained analytically using
  a local description of neighboring domain geometry. Combined with a leadi
 ng order model of the mechanical energy contributions of the cellular inte
 rfaces\, a connection emerges between the mechanical properties of the tis
 sue\, the statistical description of its structure\, and the geometry of i
 ndividual domains (cells). In epidermal tissue\, the equilibrium state fou
 nd in experiments corresponds to mechanically relaxed configurations of th
 is material. In ordered epithelia\, the presence of defects provides a sen
 sitive measure for long-range spatial patterns\, leading to the discovery 
 of new organizational features in the eye of _Drosophila_. Potential appli
 cations include the non-invasive diagnostics of pathological tissue change
 s as well as of tissue morphogenetic development\, whether in vivo or in r
 egenerative medicine.
LOCATION:MR13\, Centre for Mathematical Sciences\, Wilberforce Road\, Camb
 ridge
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