This is essential to soft condensed matter physics since on this scale the processes occur which determine structure and function of polymer networks, including the biopolymer networks of biological cells. These biopolymer networks are particularly interesting since their nano-scale dynamics is caused by active elements besides the always present Brownian motions. The active elements allow the networks to form small nano-machines which control cell motility as well as gene expression patterns. An understanding of the physics of these bio-networks will inspire material science as well as biomedicine. All eukaryotic cells, i.e. any cell more advanced in evolution than a bacterium, depend in their internal structure and organization on the cytoskeleton, a polymer network within the cell interior.
More subtle changes can obstruct important cell functions.
Disrupting the actin cytoskeleton causes cells to lose elastic strength and stable shape, and in the case of migrating cells, it results in loss of cell motility as well. On the other hand, changes in cell function, such as malignant transformation, feedback into cytoskeletal structure. The research of my group focuses on the actin cytoskeleton. Their impact on polymer dynamics and thus on viscoelasticity cannot be described by existing polymer theories. To unravel the physics underlying the complex and highly dynamic features of actin networks we synergeticly apply soft condensed matter physics, nonlinear dynamics and molecular biology to study in vivo the actin cytoskeleton of cells as well as in vitro reconstituted elements of this cytoskeleton.