DIEP seminar by Wilson Poon
Active Self Disassembly: Towards a Physics of Death
The concept of ‘self-assembly’ was first invented by two physicists in 1962 to explain the construction of viral capsids. Since then, the idea that biology is ‘self-assembled soft matter’ has become commonplace. However, biology at all length scales – from molecules through cells and organisms to ecosystems – also depends vitally on processes of active self-disassembly. Living systems have evolved to use energy to deconstruct part or all of themselves in highly-organised ways, and feedback building blocks to self-assembly processes.
‘Programmed (or regulated) cell death’ in our tissues is a good example, but ‘death’ at all levels has been highly-evolved to enable life to function. In this talk, I consider what such a ‘physics of death’ may look like, report briefly some ongoing work in this direction, and explain why such research may have a vital role to play in the drive towards a more sustainable ‘circular economy’.
If you wish to attend this seminar online, please send an email to w.merbis@uva.nl to receive the zoom-link.
Wilson Poon, Professor of Natural Philosophy at the School of Physics & Astronomy of the University of Edinburgh. Wilson is a leading figure in the physics of active matter and will tell us about his work on self-disassembly. Living systems ubiquitously self-disassemble in order to function. Yet, self-disassembly has been far less studied as a class of processes than self-assembly. After giving some context, Wilson will report a recent experiment on the self-disassembly of Escherichia coli and a recent simulation on an ‘Ising model of self-disassembly’ to try to begin to understand how and why self-disassembly is so ubiquitous in living systems.
After the seminar, it is possible to meet and discuss with Wilson Poon. If you wish to discuss with him, please send an email to w.merbis@uva.nl to make a meeting schedule.