| Project Detail |
Understanding energetics and dynamics in biological order generation Every second, millions of cells in the human body undergo mitosis, the process by which cells divide and duplicate their genetic material. During mitosis, the spindle apparatus (composed of filaments and motor proteins) physically separates duplicated chromosomes in eukaryotic cells. Scientists have been studying the dynamics of cytoskeletal matter for decades to understand its energy budget. However, a comprehensive quantitative understanding of these dynamics and their energy budget remains incomplete. With the support of the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions programme, the AsterFields project will investigate the dynamics of contractile, self-organising, active cytoskeletal material. It aims to establish a field-based model to quantify energy and order and describe the energetics and dynamics of these processes in three dimensions. Every second, millions of cells go through mitosis in the human body, a process dividing the cells and their genetic content. In eukaryotic cells, a cytoskeletal structure named the spindle apparatus is responsible for physically separating the duplicated chromosomes. The self-organization of filaments (microtubules) and associated molecular motor proteins shape this structure. For decades, the dynamics of active cytoskeletal matter have been investigated both in vivo and in vitro. However, a comprehensive quantitative understanding of the dynamics of the constituents and their energy budget remains elusive. This action aims to investigate the non-equilibrium dynamics of contractile self-organizing active cytoskeletal material through energy and order quantification and to establish a field-based model to describe energetics and dynamics in three dimensions. |
