Massimo Vergassola
University of California San Diego
Seminar Information
Center for Magnetic Recording Research (CMRR)
Auditorium (Immediately left upon entry)
Embryos and cells often feature substantial flows of their cytoplasmic components. While their Reynolds numbers are moderate, flows typically involve nontrivial couplings between mechanics and biochemistry, which generate up-gradient motions and lead to non-trivial self-organization and pattern formation. A notable example is the mechanics of cytoplasmic flows by embryonic nuclei in the early stages of development of Drosophila embryos. I shall present the phenomenology of the problem and discuss why fundamental and empirical reasons impose a multiphase model with a passive, the cytosol, and an active fluid, the actomyosin network. Entrainment of the passive fluid by its active counterpart dramatically concentrates in a thin boundary layer at the embryo cortex. The model captures experimental patterns, explains previously elusive observations, and makes a series of predictions, some of which were experimentally tested and confirmed. Furthermore, the model recapitulates some of the basic features encountered in other embryonic/cellular systems (and plants).
Massimo Vergassola holds the Theodore D. Foster Endowed Chair in Physics at UCSD. His current research examines the physics of living systems. After studying in Italy and France, and being postdoc at Princeton University, Vergassola received a tenured research position at the French CNRS for work on the statistical physics of fluids. His CNRS positions were held with joint appointments at the Ecole Polytechnique, at the Pasteur Institute as the head of the Physics of Biological Systems group, and at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. Vergassola was a visiting scientist at the Rockefeller University, KITP, IAS, LANL and IHES, he was plenary speaker at Statphys25, and he served in the board/leadership of a variety of professional journals and associations. Vergassola’s awards include the Grand Prix EADS from the French Academy of Sciences, the Fellowship and the Outstanding Referee awards from the American Physical Society, the CNRS Bronze Medal, the Biomedical prize Thérèse Lebrasseur from the Fondation de France, the Accademia dei Lincei student award, and grant awards from the Simons Foundation and the Fondation Recherche Médicale. He is an elected member of the European Academy.