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3. Kolloquium des SFB 1449 „Dynamic Hydrogels at Biointerfaces“

Nov 25, 2021 | 02:00 PM

Prof. Dr. Ben Fabry (Institute of Condensed Matter Physics and Center of
Medical Physics and Technology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg)

"Soft glassy rheology of mucus, cells, and tissue"


Abstract: A glass is a material that has the disordered molecular state of a liquid and at the same time
the rigidity of a solid. To create a work of glass, a glassblower must heat the object, shape it,
and then cool it down. Cells, tissues, the extracellular matrix, and even the mucosal lining
appear to remodel their internal structures and modulate their mechanical properties in much
the same way. Instead of changing temperature, cells and tissues change an effective
temperature – called the noise temperature – representing the level of molecular agitation
within the microenvironment. Hence, the noise temperature determines the ability of cells and
biological tissues to deform, to flow, and to remodel their internal structures. The hallmarks of
soft glassy behavior – molecular disorder and metastability – give rise to power-law rheology
that is universally found in a wide range of diverse materials, including foams, gels, colloidal
suspensions, pastes, slurries, polymer solutions and polymer networks, and hence power-law
rheology prevails in higher-order composites such as living cells and tissues.

Time & Location

Nov 25, 2021 | 02:00 PM

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