Rheology of living systems
The goal of this course is to give
both early career researchers as well as experienced rheologists an insight
into the developing field on rheology of living systems. This includes a focus
on experimental techniques, new concepts and applications in cell and tissues,
bacteria and biofilms, blood and active systems.
Day 1 / Saturday, July 29, 2023
09:00 – 10:30
Lecture 1: Overview of Basic concepts in rheology: viscoelasticity and flow, Overview of techniques (I) Gerald G. Fuller
Linear viscoelasticity, Common behaviour of complex liquids, Basics of low Reynolds' number flow, Single cell methods, Optical and magnetic tweezers - from the molecular to cell scale
Microrheology, Flow of cells through constrictions, Atomic force microscopy, Micropipette aspiration, Compression/Stretching of tissues (see e.g. G. Charras at Imperial College), Substrate strains, Traction force microscopy / Micropillar arrays, Rotational rheometry of cell layers, Sliding plate rheometry of cell layers: the Live Cell Rheometer
12:30 – 13:30
Lunch
13:30 – 14:30
Lecture 3: Rheology from Cells to Soft Tissues Pietro Cicuta
Molecules of life, Cell cytoskeleton components, architecture, models adapted from polymers and gels, Cell membrane – fluctuations, dynamics, Extracellular matrix, Mechanics of flexible networks, Contributions of structural fibers to cell viscoelasticity
14:30 – 15:30
Lecture 4: Cellular-cellular and cellular-environment interactions Gerald G. Fuller
Substrate elasticity and stem cell differentiation, Adhesion of cell layers to hydrogels (contact lenses), Corneal cell adhesion onto conjunctival cells, Interfacial rheology of biofilms
Flows and dynamics within Bacteria cells, Bacteria growing as colonies, Properties of bacteria biofilms, Adhesion of bacteria onto bladder cells, Bacteria as swimmers
Blood in circulation, Hemorheology, the study of flow properties of blood and its elementsEk, tacytometers, Thromboelastometry (TEG) and rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM): measurement of the coagulation cascade
Models of blood viscoelasticity, Collective effects of RBC: The Fåhræus–Lindquist effect, rouleaux formation, Viscoelasticity of red blood cells, micropipette aspiration, Optical tweezers, RBC shape fluctuations: extracting tension, bending, viscosity
10:30 – 11:00
Break
11:00 – 12:00
Lecture 7: Focus on swimmers and active flows Pietro Cicuta
Sperm and other eucaryotic swimmers, Motile cilia, flows in airways and brain, Viscoelasticity of mucus layers above bronchial epithelial cells
12:00 – 12:30
Discussion on open topics
Pietro Cicuta, (University of Cambridge, UK)
Pietro Cicuta studied
physics (Laurea, Milan, 1999 and PhD, Cambridge, 2003) working initially on
“soft matter” moving to "living matter". Since 2016 he is Professor
of Biological Physics at the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge
(http://people.bss.phy.cam.ac.uk/~pc245/),
with projects ranging from infectious diseases (blood stage malaria and
antibiotic resistance) to the physics of lung function, biophysics of lipid
bilayers and self-assembly of responsive soft systems. His team also innovates
instrumentation (automated optical microscopes, tweezers and microfluidics),
audio (covid19 sounds project) and video analysis (multi-DDM). Most of his work
involves rheology, dynamics, mechanics and flow in biological systems.
Gerald G. Fuller (Stanford University, USA)
Gerald
Fuller is the Fletcher Jones Professor of Chemical
Engineering at Stanford University. He joined Stanford in 1980 following his
graduate work at Caltech where he acquired his MS and PhD degrees. His
undergraduate education was obtained at the University of Calgary, Canada.
Professor Fuller's interests lie in studies of rheology and interfacial fluid
mechanics. His work has been recognized by receipt of the Bingham Medal of The
Society of Rheology, membership in the National Academy of Engineering,
election to the American Academy of Arts and Science, and honorary doctorates
from the Universities of Crete, Greece, and KU Leuven, Belgium. He presently
serves as the General Secretary to the International Committee on Rheology.
