RMAG · Rheology and Mechanics of Active Glasses
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-11-01 → 2022-10-31
- EU contribution
- €174,806
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Rheology and Mechanics of Active Glasses
The Problem Addressed: Dense living (active) matter systems are quite ubiquitous in nature, with examples ranging from the cytoplasm of cells to dense tissues of motile cells, from dense assembly of self propelled colloids to vehicular traffic jams. The mechanical behaviour of such dense living matter (aka active glassy matter) and how they flow under external mechanical perturbation are key to biological processes like wound healing or cancer metastasis etc., but today there is very limited understanding of what governs the mechanical/ rheological (flow) behaviour of such active glassy matter. Many recent studies have explored the dynamical and transport aspects of such active glasses, however, an understanding of the rheological behavior of these fascinating out-of-equilibrium systems remains elusive. Application and importance to society: Beyond the fundamental research challenge mentioned above, that these questions present, an understanding of the rheology (i.e. mechanical and flow behaviour) of such dense living matter can also lead to design methods for functional materials such as 3D printed living tissue, assemblies of self propelled particles in granular experiments, disordered assemblies of driven colloids, active nanoclusters of magnetically driven nano machines etc. Overall Objective: The primary aim of this MSCA project is to explore and better understand the mechanical and rheological responses, i.e. the material aspects of active glassy systems and thus to help design functional active glassy materials of practical interest. Conclusion: Our study made crucial as well as substantial advancement in the theoretical understanding of dense living matter as well as sheds light in the rheological response of such material especially by discovering a novel type of ordering which can be potentially observed in such dense living systems.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
The mechanics and flow behaviour of living or active matter is key to biological processes like wound healing or cancer metastasis, but today there is very limited understanding of what governs the mechanical properties of such dense active systems. The proposed project will harness tools from the Statistical Physics of Glasses to provide new fundamental insights into Active Matter mechanics and rheology. This will not only help understand the deformation and flow of living glassy systems but also pave the way to the creation of designer active materials. The project will use particle-based simulations of model active glasses to construct a detailed phenomenology of their behaviour for a broad range of deformation scenarios including steady shear, shear startup and oscillatory shear. The insights from this will be condensed into a mesoscopic model that extends and builds on the very successful Soft Glassy Rheology (SGR) model, by incorporating essential biophysical ingredients and in particular the driving by active processes. This mesoscopic approach will allow scaling up to realistic system sizes and will identify the key parameters that need to be tuned in the design of new active materials. The insights gained on a wide range of systems from the cytoplasm and cellular aggregates to synthetic active matter will have a strong impact both on the academic and, in the medium term, non-academic sectors. They will reach across traditional boundaries to researchers in physics, biology and chemistry and strengthen an important interdisciplinary field within the European Research Area. The outreach opportunities provided by the fascinating behaviour of active glassy materials will be exploited with dedicated dissemination and communication activities targeted at a broad range of audiences.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- GEORG-AUGUST-UNIVERSITAT GOTTINGEN STIFTUNG OFFENTLICHEN RECHTS · GottingenCoordinatorGermany
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union