Dynamics and instabilities in confined contractile actin networks

Centering and decentering of cellular components is essential for internal organization of cells and their ability to perform basic cellular functions such as division and motility. These processes are driven by assemblies of dynamic filaments and molecular motors, that form an active viscoelastic network that undergoes continuous turnover and generates forces. In my talk I will present our work on actin-based positioning mechanisms in artificial cells, describing a robust active centering mechanism based on the hydrodynamic interaction between a contracting actin network and the surrounding fluid, as well as a mechanism for cellular symmetry breaking induced by stochastic interaction with the cell boundary.

PhD seminar under the supervision of Prof. Kinneret Keren