セミナー

Abstract:

Biological active materials such as bacterial biofilms and eukaryotic cells thrive in confined microspaces. Here, we numerically show that combining growth dynamics with their intrinsic activity cells can use confinement as a mechanical guidance to achieve distinct modes of collective invasion. We assess the dynamics of the growing interface and classify these collective modes of invasion based on the activity of the cells. While at small and moderate activities the active material grows as a coherent unit, we find blobs of active materials collectively detaching from the cohort above an activity threshold in a process reminiscent of the intravasation in cancer cells. We further characterise the mechanical mechanisms of transition between different modes of invasion.