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SUMMARY:MechE Colloquium: Towards models of fluid transport in active vasc
 ular networks
DTSTART:20241029T120000
DTEND:20241029T130000
DTSTAMP:20260506T002453Z
UID:272c0cff5d6655634ea1bf0ce3af156af3b7293cea92172a31556125
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Martin Brandenbourger\, CNRS\, IRPHÉ lab\, Aix-Marseille 
 Université\nAbstract: Liquid flows in vascular networks are among the mos
 t effective ways to transport matter and information for life. From animal
 s to fungi\, the most adaptable organisms utilize vascular networks with v
 essels that actively contract upon local sensing of stimuli instead of cen
 tral pumping mechanisms. These self-contractions bring unique autonomous f
 unctionalities such as adaptative locomotion and resilient immunity defens
 e. To finely control fluid flows in these networks and properly deliver ma
 tter and information\, living organisms combine both passive and active in
 teractions. One striking example is the lymphatic system in which intersti
 tial fluids are transported across the whole body of mammals against intri
 cate changes of pressures. In the collecting lymphatics\, lymph is transpo
 rted via active vessel contractions combined with passive leaflets that en
 sure unidirectional transport. The nature of the active contractions\, the
  multi-scale and multi-physics of the system make it challenging to model.
 \n\nIn the first part of this seminar\, I will describe how the developmen
 t of artificial models inspired by the lymphatic system enables systematic
 al studies on the role of leaflets and channel contractions. In the second
  part of this seminar\, I will present the first steps toward the developm
 ent of robotic matter capable of mimicking active self-actuations observed
  in nature. Model experiments combining passive elasticity and local activ
 e forces are used to develop models predicting the mechanical properties o
 f such active materials and demonstrate how\nthe interplay between dissipa
 tion\, restoring forces and active forces controls their dynamics. These r
 esults open the way to a better understanding of fluid transport in self-c
 ontracting\nnetworks and the reproduction of living matter functionalities
  in artificial systems.\n\nBiography: Martin Brandenbourger holds a Master
  in Physics and a PhD in 2016 from Liège university in Belgium.  After a
  post-doctoral stay in Boston University\, USA\,  in the Soft Matter Grou
 p in the university of Amsterdam\, Netherlands and in Tips lab in Universi
 té Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium he was hired as researcher at CNRS in IR
 PHÉ lab Aix-Marseille Université \, France\, in 2020. He works at the in
 terface between mechanics and soft matter. In his research\, he is explori
 ng the fluid and solid mechanics of active systems\, using tools from mech
 anics as well as from statistical physics. He aims at understanding how lo
 cal active forces affect the properties of soft solids and their interacti
 on with their environment\, in particular with liquid flows. He is recipie
 nt of an ERC project\, Self-Flow.
LOCATION:BM 5202 https://plan.epfl.ch/?room==BM%205202 https://epfl.zoom.u
 s/j/64267570786
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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