GDR MePhy

The PLM series started 15 years ago from an interest to promote the interface between the Life and Physical Sciences in Cambridge.

This year, the conference has been divided into two parts:

• September 27 & 28 in France : organized by CENTURI, this part of the event will take place at the Palais du Pharo, in Marseille, with an online access for Cambridge participants.
• September 29 & 30 in England : organized by Cambridge University, this part of the event will take place in Cambridge, with an online access for Marseille participants.

Program and registration: https://centuri-livingsystems.org/plm16/

Pedro Reis (EPFL) and Kostas Danas (Ecole Polytechnique)

In this joint seminar, we will present the complementary expertise and recent research of our two groups at Ecole Polytechnique (France) and EPFL (Switzerland) on magnetorheological elastomers (MREs); a novel class of active materials capable of exhibiting a coupled response under external magnetic and/or mechanical stimuli.

Info and registration: eurotechtalk-3.eventbrite.be

We would like to draw your attention to the workshop Physics of microbial motility that our H2020 ITN PHYMOT organizes from November 2nd to 4th, 2022 at the ESPCI in Paris, France. This workshop aims to bring together senior scientists and students with interests ranging from marine microbiology, and environmental biology to experimental and theoretical biophysics. For further information and to register and submit an abstract, please visit the workshop website: https://etn-phymot.eu/phymot-workshop/

 Best wishes,
Anke Lindner, Eric Clement, Thomas Kiørboe, Roberto Di Leonardo, Gerrit Vliegenthart and Gerhard Gompper

The growing plant is a fascinating system involving multiple fields. Biologically, it is a multi-cellular system controlled by complex bio-chemical networks. Physically, it is an example of an « active solid » – an extended solid system, whose element (cells) are active, performing mechanical work to drive the evolving geometry. Computationally, it acts as a distributed system, processing a multitude of local inputs into a coordinated developmental response. The goal of this meeting is to provide a rare opportunity to bring together researchers from these different but complementary disciplines, and study the plant as a living, information-processing organism, which uses physical laws and biological mechanisms to alter its own shape, and negotiate its environment.

Please visit:  http://www.plant-bio-physics.org/ for relevant information

Idan Efroni, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Yasmine Meroz, Tel Aviv University
Sigal Savaldi-Goldstein, Technion Israel Institute of Technology
Eran Sharon, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Active matter is a prominent area of research in soft matter and biological physics: it gives us the opportunity to learn new physics (active materials are out of equilibrium), engineer new materials (e.g., « intelligent » responsive materials), and understand more about biology (e.g., cells, migratory animals, and even subcellular motor proteins are active materials). While a tremendous amount of work has focused on the physics of active matter in bulk/unconfined environments, recent work is starting to demonstrate the rich physics associated with active matter in complex environments characterized by tortuosity, confinement, and complex interactions. This Aspen Winter Conference will focus on this new direction in active matter research at the interface of soft matter physics, statistical and nonlinear physics, biology, and engineering.  

This Conference will bring together a diverse group of leading theorists and experimentalists to discuss (1) Fundamentals, (2) Collective behaviors, (3) Interactions with complex fluids, (4) Biological active matter, (5) Synthetic active matter/assemblies. Our ultimate goal is to foster new collaborations, clarify unifying/open questions for future research to address, and brainstorm new directions for the field that cut across physics, biology, materials, engineering, and other disciplines. 

The workshop will be in-person, over five days spanning January 2-6, 2023 (the last day will be a half day).  We are putting together the agenda to have extensive Q&A and discussion sessions as well as recreational breaks each day.  There will also be a welcome reception on the evening of Sunday January 1.  We are currently fundraising with the intention of being able to help offset some costs associated with meeting registration, housing, and travel. 

To register, click the « Apply now » link here; the registration deadline is at the end of the month. 

Sujit Datta, Cynthia Olson Reichhardt, Paulo Arratia and Moumita Das

CISM-IUTAM Summer School on Sports Physics and Technology
September 19-22 2022, Udine
https://www.cism.it/en/activities/courses/C2211/