BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Memento EPFL//
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:MechE Seminar: Biomechanics of exploding seed pods
DTSTART:20230208T090000
DTEND:20230208T100000
DTSTAMP:20260916T063408Z
UID:88644d3cb96c3b73ed6839e7edb97cba69d863275e89948bfc3b660f
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Gabriella Mosca\, Technical University Munich and Max Plan
 ck Institute for Plant Breeding Research\nAbstract: Popping weed (Cardamin
 e hirsuta) is one of many different plants that evolved an explosive mecha
 nism to efficiently disperse its seeds.\nWhen the fruit is mature\, the va
 lves detach from a supporting central structure\, coiling at high speed an
 d ejecting the seeds at considerable distance.\nTo investigate this explos
 ive mechanism\, we adopted a multidisciplinary approach\, combining geneti
 cs\, advanced imaging\, micro-mechanical manipulations and mechanical mode
 ling across different scales. We discovered that the fruit of Cardamine hi
 rsuta evolved morpho-mechanical features that allowed its valves to behave
  analogously to an incompressible bi-layer tissue under differential tensi
 on\, while attached to the rest of the fruit. Through Finite Element Metho
 ds (FEM) simulations combined with experimental data\, we explained the so
 urce and the dynamics of this differential tension\, showing how the outer
  layer of the valve is able to develop contractile tension while growing\,
  behaving ultimately similarly to a McKibben actuator.\n\nBiography: Gabri
 ella Mosca studied Physics at University of Insubria (Italy)\, where she g
 raduated in 2010 with a thesis on Quantum Chaos and Entanglement. Under th
 e supervision of Dr. Richard Smith in Bern (CH)\,  within the Swiss initi
 ative SystemsX\,  she did an interdisciplinary Ph.D. focused on the devel
 opment of computational methods to interpret the experimental results of i
 ndentation experiments (AFM\, CFM) on plant cells in a tissue context.\nFr
 om that work stemmed the development of MorphoMechanX\, a user-friendly an
 d interactive software designed to model plant tissue bio-mechanics and mo
 rphogenesis\, which Dr. Mosca and collaborating labs are using to explore 
 a variety of questions connected to the role of mechanics in development.\
 nDr. Mosca is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the PlantMorphodynami
 cs research consortium (TUM-MPIPZ\, DE)\, a multidisciplinary group tackin
 g in a holistic manner the events which\, at different scales\, underlie t
 issue morphogenesis.
LOCATION:BM 5202 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BM%205202 https://epfl.zoom.u
 s/j/63978522361
STATUS:CONFIRMED
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR