Research Support
SPIRITS

Non-Equilibrium Soft Matter: Glasses and Active Matter in Silico and in Vitro

Project Gist

Innovative collaborations of experiments and simulations on non-equilibrium soft matter physics

Keywords

Simulation, Colloidal dispersion, Micro swimmer, Cell migration

Background and Purpose

Yamamoto (Kyoto) has been developing several new simulation methodologies for soft matters. Royall (Bristol->Kyoto) has been studying structural and dynamic properties of systems composed of colloidal particles and/or active particles using the latest experimental technologies such as confocal microscopy. By expanding previous collaborations between those two groups, more innovative and creative collaborations have been carried out in the present SPIRIT project.

Project Achievements

Various original papers have been published in influential international journals already from this project. Concerning to the formation of new research networks, Dr. Royall who is one of the main project member moved from Bristol to Kyoto university on 1 March 2016. This will greatly contribute also to the internationalization of educational and human recourses of Kyoto university. We also started collaborations with Curie institute (France) and Warrick university (UK).

Future Prospects

Contact inhibition plays a crucial role not only in the motility of cells, but also in many important dynamical processes such as wound healing and tumor growth. We will develop simple mechanical models applicable for such dynamical processes based on our particle-based mechanical model for migrating and proliferating cells. Some tentative simulations have been performed for such systems successfully including growing colonies of proliferating cells

Figure

Schematic representation of the propulsion mechanism and flow profiles of a pusher and a puller, (a) and (b) respectively. These swimmers can be represented using Blake’s squirming model, in which the detailed propulsion mechanism is replaced by a specified slip velocity at the surface of the particles, (c) and (d), for pushers and pullers, respectively.
Snapshots of cells for a range of cell shapes as given in the titles. Cell velocities are given as arrows and color. Hue indicates deviation from average direction, and slower cells are lighter in color.

Principal Investigator

YAMAMOTO Ryoichi

・YAMAMOTO Ryoichi
・Graduate School of Engineering
・Ryoichi obtained his B.Eng. and M.Eng. degrees from Kobe University and Ph.D. from Kyoto University. He was a research associate at Kobe University (1994 – 1996), a research associate (1996 – 1999) and a lecturer (2000 – 2004) at the Department of Physics, Kyoto University, an associate professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Kyoto University (2004 – 2008). Since 2008, he has been a professor there. He works on dynamical problems of soft matters (complex fluids, glasses, polymers, and colloids) and active matters (micro-swimmers and cells) by developing and using novel methods of computer simulations suitable for those systems.
http://www-tph.cheme.kyoto-u.ac.jp/