Mechanics and dynamics of biological adhesion (A08)

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Cellular adhesion is the result of a competition between specific short-range attractive forces, medium- range repulsive interactions and long-range elastic interactions. The goal of this project is to address these different length scales and to investigate the formation, strength and dynamics of clusters of adhesion bonds that form in the contact zone. Particularly, by employing a hierarchy of model systems, we will investigate how the dynamic strength of individual adhesion bonds, the presence of repeller molecules and the elastic properties as well as internal and external forces of the envelope (cell cortex) influence this optimal cluster size with the maximum lifetime or strength.