{"id":3763,"date":"2018-10-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpdev.hmc.edu\/physics\/2018\/10\/30\/active-mechanics-and-the-forces-that-keep-our-cells-alive\/"},"modified":"2018-10-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T00:00:00","slug":"active-mechanics-and-the-forces-that-keep-our-cells-alive","status":"publish","type":"physics_colloquium","link":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/research\/colloquium\/active-mechanics-and-the-forces-that-keep-our-cells-alive\/","title":{"rendered":"Active mechanics and the forces that keep our cells alive"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"page-featured-image\" class=\"wp-block-image is-style-alignleft\" data-pic=\"pic-623.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2023\/01\/pic-623.jpg\" alt=\"Promotional image for talk: Elements of a successful scientific talk\" data-pic=\"pic-623.jpg\" \/><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Speaker(s):<\/strong> Wylie Ahmed<\/p>\n<p>Living cells actively generate forces at the molecular scale that change their overall structure and mechanical properties. This nonequilibrium activity is essential&nbsp;for cellular function, and drives processes such as division, migration, and organization. In the first part of this talk, I will introduce how cells throughout the body&nbsp;(e.g. muscle, heart, tissue, and brain) must act as active mechanical systems to keep us alive. &nbsp;In the second part, I will discuss recent advances that allow&nbsp;quantification of nonequilibrium activity in living cells and insight on the molecular-scale driving forces. Our approach leverages a close synergy between&nbsp;experiment, theory, and simulation to explore the basic physical principles driving biological processes and to inspire new advances in soft and active matter&nbsp;physics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-3763","physics_colloquium","type-physics_colloquium","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/physics_colloquium\/3763","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/physics_colloquium"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/physics_colloquium"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hmc.edu\/physics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}