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PHYSICS OF LIVING MATTER:

EXPERIMENTS AND
THEORETICAL MODELS

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18 Dcembre 2014
Thatre du grand chteau, Parc Valrose Universit de Nice - Sophia Antipolis

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The main goal of this rst symposium Physics of living matter: experiments and theoretical models is to promote
interactions between physicists, biologists and mathematicians at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis. We aim to bring
together scientists with interests at the interface of these elds creating a forum, which facilitates informal discussion,
identies common interests and potential collaborations as well as presenting interdisciplinary projects currently underway
at the UNS. With this symposium, we propose to launch a new interdisciplinary axis entitled "Physique du vivant :
expriences et modles thoriques".
We have planned a combination of short talks, including brief reviews and how to presentations, a poster session and
ample time for discussion. Without being exhaustive, this mini-symposium will touch on diverse problems, which cover a
range of dierent levels from molecules to collective phenomena between organisms.
Influence of the growth response

We tested the influence of the growth response f to the growth-promoting

Register by December 8th @ phylivmat.weebly.com/registration.html
ligand. Similarly to what we described in the 2D lung model [11], we found
that the morphology
the growth
response. A
Free admission.


of the
tree
was
finely
mtuned
ore byinfo
: phylivmat.weebly.com
good example is the sensitivity of the shape to the value of the threshold, G .
0

Figure 4 displays the outcome of two simulations with dierent values of G0 .

Resulting shapes suggest that the higher the threshold is (Figure 4A), the
more tubular the branches are. This is in fact consistent with the instability
mechanism that we described. When the threshold is high, the sensitivity
to low ligand income is very poor. Branches sides thus undergo very little growth, as the gradient essentially concentrates on distal tips. When
the threshold is decreased (Figure 4B), sensitivity to weak ligand incomes is
increased and the spatial distribution of growth spreads on branches sides.
Branches diameters are consequently increased, while the mesenchymal volume remains similarly filled by the epithelial tree. Again, this suggests that
modifications in the growth response impact the fine geometry of the tree
but not the core mechanism. During organogenesis, the role of the complete regulation network, which is not described in our model, is partly to
shape the growth response to the signal. Our results are thus consistent with
the fact that mutations in lung or kidney impact the branching pattern and
regularity but not the global tree-like structure.

We welcome all scientists, from students on up, that are interested in the interfaces between physics, biology and
mathematics to participate. We strongly encourage participants to present a poster about their on going work. This session
has a limited number of spaces; you will receive conrmation upon registration.

Organizers
M Argentina (INLN)
R Arkowitz (IBV)
F Brau (IPMC)
L Counillon (LP2M)
X Noblin (LPMC)
M Ribot (LJAD)
A Seminara (LPMC)

B A

Figure 1: Examples of branching organogenesis. A. Mouse salivary

glands at day 13.5 stained for E-cadherin (courtesy of Dr I. Smyth, Monash
Figure
4: A. Growth
University). B. Mouse lungs at day 13.5 double stained
for E-cadherin
and response with a high threshold. Branches rather elonthicken.
DAPI. Legend shows the trachea (Tr), the right (Rmb)gate
and than
left (Lmb)
mainB. Growth response with a low threshold. Branches
rather
thicken
than
bronchi, the right cranial (RCr), right middle (RMd), right accessory (RAc),elongate and branches consequently have a greater dithan
in (A).
right caudal (RCd) and left (L) lobes (adapted fromameter
[3]). C.
Drosophila
tracheal system imaged with a lumen antibody (courtesy of Dr S. Araujo
[4]). D. Mouse kidney at E11.5 (courtesy of Dr C. Bates, adapted from [5]).

Speakers:
Mdric Argentina (INLN)
Frdric Brau (IPMC)
Laurent Counillon (LP2M)
Guillaume Drin (IPMC)
Gian Luca Lippi (INLN)
3
Francis Mairet (INRIA Sophia)
Benjamin Mauroy (LJAD)

Xavier Noblin (LPMC)

12
Fernando Peruani (LJAD)
Sabrina Pisano (IRCAN)
Magali Ribot (LJAD)
Sebastien Schaub (iBV)
Agnese Seminara (LPMC)
Darren Thomson (iBV)