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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.

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Prof. Dr. Karsten Kruse, Theoretische Biologische Physik, Universitaät des Saarlandes
Lecture Hall 3
Contact: not specified