Prof. Dr. Karsten Kruse

---

To understand the emergence of spatiotemporal structures in biological systems
remains a major challenge to this day. Self-organization of a limited number
of different agents has been found to account for structure formation in
sea shells, slime mold aggregation, and bee colonies. On a subcellular level,
however, the importance of self-organization of proteins and other molecules
for forming vital structures is still debated. In this talk, I will discuss recent
experimental and theoretical advances that indicate that self-organization plays
an important role in cellular processes like cell division and cell locomotion.
Specifically, I will discuss patterns formed by the Min proteins in the
bacterium Escherichia coli as well as cytoskeletal polymerization waves in animal cells.
Together these results show how physical concepts and methods can help
us to understand life.

---

Theoretische Biologische Physik, Universitaät des Saarlandes
Lecture Hall 3
Contact: not specified