MEchanics GAthering –MEGA- Seminar: How distinct active force modes shape emergent structures and dynamics in non-equilibrium fluid tissues
Event details
| Date | 26.02.2026 |
| Hour | 13:05 › 14:00 |
| Speaker | Alessandro Rizzi (MESOBIO, EPFL) |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
Abstract: Tissue mechanical states are tightly regulated by biochemical processes, and distinct mechanisms modulating cellular and subcellular mechanical properties are known to induce solid-to-fluid transitions. While increasing the magnitude of active forces can induce such transitions, it remains unclear how different modes of activity influence structural and dynamical features of fluid states. Here, we investigate the effects of traction forces and junctional tension fluctuations on confluent tissues using a two-dimensional Active Foam model. We find that the resulting fluid states exhibit striking differences in cell geometry, spatiotemporal correlations, and rearrangement statistics, and we verify that cell geometry in traction-driven fluid tissues quantitatively agrees with our model predictions. Despite distinct active forces leaving identifiable structural and dynamical signatures, the long-term cellular displacements can be universally described by persistent Brownian motion in a mean-field approach. This work provides a minimal framework for cell motility independent of active force details as well as a potential method to infer the dominant activity mode based solely on cellular geometry, with applications to a broad range of tissues.
Bio: After a Physics bachelor at the University of Milan, I moved to Germany, where I obtained a Master degree in theoretical Physics from Heidelberg University with a thesis on stochastic dynamics in heavy-ion collisions. Since 2024, I am working as a PhD in the group of Professor Sangwoo Kim, MESOBIO. Here I theoretically and computationally model active multicellular tissues, using concepts at the intersection of non-equilibrium physics, mechanics and biology.
Bio: After a Physics bachelor at the University of Milan, I moved to Germany, where I obtained a Master degree in theoretical Physics from Heidelberg University with a thesis on stochastic dynamics in heavy-ion collisions. Since 2024, I am working as a PhD in the group of Professor Sangwoo Kim, MESOBIO. Here I theoretically and computationally model active multicellular tissues, using concepts at the intersection of non-equilibrium physics, mechanics and biology.
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Organizer
- MEGA.Seminar Organizing Committee