DPG Physics School 2006
supported by the Wilhelm and Else Heraeus - Foundation

Active Biomimetic Materials

Josef A. Käs, (University of Leipzig) and Reinhard Lipowsky (MPI for Colloids and Interfaces Potsdam)

Soft matter physics on the scale of nanometers to tens of microns, i.e., on the scale of proteins and cells, in complex multifunctional biological matter - often far from equilibrium - are the next big challenge for materials science. A satisfying understanding of these systems, which enables material science to learn from nature, calls forth a new type of biological physics which can describe biological soft matter with active elements and which is adaptive to multipurpose. There has been tremendous progress in molecular biology. Nevertheless, this progress will only impact the design and development of new materials if a novel combination of nanosciences and soft matter physics is developed - bridging biology and engineering. The need for novel soft matter physics is exemplified in the cytoskeleton, an active network of protein filaments and molecular machines found in biological cells. In contrast to well-described, conventional materials the cytoskeleton is not a static polymer network it actively changes in response to various cellular functions, conversely mechanical stimuli applied to the cytoskeleton directly feedback into cell function. This synergetic research in physics, chemistry, engineering, and biology simultaneously advances our fundamental knowledge-base and provides novel applications in biomedicine and materials science.

Lecturers and topics:

• Biological soft matter. The building stones of active biomimetic materials
  Reinhardt Lipowsky, MPI for Colloids and Interfaces, Golm, Germany
• Control of Actin Assembly in Cell Motility
  Marie-France Carlier, CNRS Saclay, France
• Hair cell, converting mechanical stimuli in electric current
  Tom Duke, Cambridge University, UK
• The mechanics of biopolymers
  Klaus Kroy, University of Leipzig, Germany
• Selforganisation of polymer networks induced by molecular motors
  Thomas Surrey, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany
• Nanomuscles in optical traps
  Joachim Spatz, University of Heidelberg, Germany
• Molecular motors
  Frank Jülicher, MPI for Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany
• Polymerization-driven motility of colloids
  Cécile Sykes, Institute Curie, Paris, France
• Molecular motors and filaments: selfassembled nanomuscles
  Karsten Kruse, MPI for Complex Systems, Dresden, Germany
• Single polymer polymerization-driven forces
  Marileen Dogterom, IFOMIS, Amsterdam, NL
• The structural properties of biopolymer networks
  Fred Mackintosh, Frieje University of Amsterdam, NL
• Actively moving polymer networks
  Jean-Francois Joanny, Institute Curie, Paris, France
• Active soft matter on the nano- and micron-scale: From intracellular biomechanics to cancer progression, stem cells, and neuronal growth
  Josef A. Käs, University of Leipzig, Germany
• Nonlinear pattern formation in active polymer systems
  Walter Zimmermann, University of Bayreuth, Germany
• Mechanosensitive polymer networks
  Ulrich Schwarz, University of Heidelberg, Germany
• Nanoassembly lines created by biopolymers and molecular motors
  Stefan Diez, MPI for Cell Biology, Dresden, Germany
• Creating artificial molecular motors
  Thorsten Hugel, Technical University Munich, Germany
• Interfacing the Bio- with the Nano-world
  Wolfgang Parak, Ludwigs Maximilian University, Munich, Germany

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