79 research outputs found
Arrested phase separation in reproducing bacteria: a generic route to pattern formation?
We present a generic mechanism by which reproducing microorganisms, with a
diffusivity that depends on the local population density, can form stable
patterns. It is known that a decrease of swimming speed with density can
promote separation into bulk phases of two coexisting densities; this is
opposed by the logistic law for birth and death which allows only a single
uniform density to be stable. The result of this contest is an arrested
nonequilibrium phase separation in which dense droplets or rings become
separated by less dense regions, with a characteristic steady-state length
scale. Cell division mainly occurs in the dilute regions and cell death in the
dense ones, with a continuous flux between these sustained by the diffusivity
gradient. We formulate a mathematical model of this in a case involving
run-and-tumble bacteria, and make connections with a wider class of mechanisms
for density-dependent motility. No chemotaxis is assumed in the model, yet it
predicts the formation of patterns strikingly similar to those believed to
result from chemotactic behavior
Nanoparticle characterization by using Tilted Laser Microscopy: back scattering measurement in near field
By using scattering in near field techniques, a microscope can be easily
turned into a device measuring static and dynamic light scattering, very useful
for the characterization of nanoparticle dispersions. Up to now, microscopy
based techniques have been limited to forward scattering, up to a maximum of 30
degrees. In this paper we present a novel optical scheme that overcomes this
limitation, extending the detection range to angles larger than 90 degrees
(back-scattering). Our optical scheme is based on a microscope, a wide
numerical aperture objective, and a laser illumination, with the collimated
beam positioned at a large angle with respect to the optical axis of the
objective (Tilted Laser Microscopy, TLM). We present here an extension of the
theory for near field scattering, which usually applies only to paraxial
scattering, to our strongly out-of-axis s ituation. We tested our instrument
and our calculations with calibrated spherical nanoparticles of several
different diameters, performing static and dynamic scattering measurements up
to 110 degrees. The measured static spectra and decay times are compatible with
the Mie theory and the diffusion coefficients provided by the Stokes-Einstein
equation. The ability of performing backscattering measurements with this
modified microscope opens the way to new applications of scattering in near
field techniques to the measurement of systems with strongly angle dependent
scattering.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Optics Express,
vol. 17, no. 17 (08/17/2009
Convection in colloidal suspensions with particle-concentration-dependent viscosity
The onset of thermal convection in a horizontal layer of a colloidal
suspension is investigated in terms of a continuum model for binary-fluid
mixtures where the viscosity depends on the local concentration of colloidal
particles. With an increasing difference between the viscosity at the warmer
and the colder boundary the threshold of convection is reduced in the range of
positive values of the separation ratio psi with the onset of stationary
convection as well as in the range of negative values of psi with an
oscillatory Hopf bifurcation. Additionally the convection rolls are shifted
downwards with respect to the center of the horizontal layer for stationary
convection (psi>0) and upwards for the Hopf bifurcation (psi<0).Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, submitted to European Physical Journal
Shear-induced quench of long-range correlations in a liquid mixture
A static correlation function of concentration fluctuations in a (dilute)
binary liquid mixture subjected to both a concentration gradient and uniform
shear flow is investigated within the framework of fluctuating hydrodynamics.
It is shown that a well-known long-range correlation at
large wave numbers crosses over to a weaker divergent one for wave numbers
satisfying , while an asymptotic shear-controlled
power-law dependence is confirmed at much smaller wave numbers given by , where , , and are the
mass concentration, the rate of the shear, the mass diffusivity and the
kinematic viscosity of the mixture, respectively. The result will provide for
the first time the possibility to observe the shear-induced suppression of a
long-range correlation experimentally by using, for example, a low-angle light
scattering technique.Comment: 8pages, 2figure
Flocking transitions in confluent tissues
Collective cell migration in dense tissues underlies important biological processes, such as embryonic development, wound healing and cancer invasion. While many aspects of single cell movements are now well established, the mechanisms leading to displacements of cohesive cell groups are still poorly understood. To elucidate the emergence of collective migration in mechanosensitive cells, we examine a self-propelled Voronoi (SPV) model of confluent tissues with an orientational feedback that aligns a cell's polarization with its local migration velocity. While shape and motility are known to regulate a density-independent liquid-solid transition in tissues, we find that aligning interactions facilitate collective motion and promote solidification, with transitions that can be predicted by extending statistical physics tools such as effective temperature to this far-from-equilibrium system. In addition to accounting for recent experimental observations obtained with epithelial monolayers, our model predicts structural and dynamical signatures of flocking, which may serve as gateway to a more quantitative characterization of collective motility
Endocytic reawakening of motility in jammed epithelia
Dynamics of epithelial monolayers has recently been interpreted in terms of a jamming or rigidity transition. How cells control such phase transitions is, however, unknown. Here we show that RAB5A, a key endocytic protein, is sufficient to induce large-scale, coordinated motility over tens of cells, and ballistic motion in otherwise kinetically arrested monolayers. This is linked to increased traction forces and to the extension of cell protrusions, which align with local velocity. Molecularly, impairing endocytosis, macropinocytosis or increasing fluid efflux abrogates RAB5A-induced collective motility. A simple model based on mechanical junctional tension and an active cell reorientation mechanism for the velocity of self-propelled cells identifies regimes of monolayer dynamics that explain endocytic reawakening of locomotion in terms of a combination of large-scale directed migration and local unjamming. These changes in multicellular dynamics enable collectives to migrate under physical constraints and may be exploited by tumours for interstitial dissemination
Characterizing concentrated, multiply scattering, and actively driven fluorescent systems with confocal differential dynamic microscopy
We introduce confocal differential dynamic microscopy (ConDDM), a new technique yielding information comparable to that given by light scattering but in dense, opaque, fluorescent samples of micron-sized objects that cannot be probed easily with other existing techniques. We measure the correct wave vector q-dependent structure and hydrodynamic factors of concentrated hard-sphere-like colloids. We characterize concentrated swimming bacteria, observing ballistic motion in the bulk and a new compressed-exponential scaling of dynamics, and determine the velocity distribution; by contrast, near the coverslip, dynamics scale differently, suggesting that bacterial motion near surfaces fundamentally differs from that of freely swimming organisms
Unjamming overcomes kinetic and proliferation arrest in terminally differentiated cells and promotes collective motility of carcinoma
During wound repair, branching morphogenesis and carcinoma dissemination, cellular rearrangements are fostered by a solid-to-liquid transition, known as unjamming. The biomolecular machinery behind unjamming and its pathophysiological relevance remain, however, unclear. Here, we study unjamming in a variety of normal and tumorigenic epithelial two-dimensional (2D) and 3D collectives. Biologically, the increased level of the small GTPase RAB5A sparks unjamming by promoting non-clathrin-dependent internalization of epidermal growth factor receptor that leads to hyperactivation of the kinase ERK1/2 and phosphorylation of the actin nucleator WAVE2. This cascade triggers collective motility effects with striking biophysical consequences. Specifically, unjamming in tumour spheroids is accompanied by persistent and coordinated rotations that progressively remodel the extracellular matrix, while simultaneously fluidizing cells at the periphery. This concurrent action results in collective invasion, supporting the concept that the endo-ERK1/2 pathway is a physicochemical switch to initiate collective invasion and dissemination of otherwise jammed carcinoma
European Space Agency experiments on thermodiffusion of fluid mixtures in space
Abstract.: This paper describes the European Space Agency (ESA) experiments devoted to study thermodiffusion of fluid mixtures in microgravity environment, where sedimentation and convection do not affect the mass flow induced by the Soret effect. First, the experiments performed on binary mixtures in the IVIDIL and GRADFLEX experiments are described. Then, further experiments on ternary mixtures and complex fluids performed in DCMIX and planned to be performed in the context of the NEUF-DIX project are presented. Finally, multi-component mixtures studied in the SCCO project are detailed
Scattering information obtained by optical microscopy: Differential dynamic microscopy and beyond
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