SOFT MATTER AND PHYSICS OF LIVING SYSTEMS GROUP
@ The Weizmann Institute
Research
My group does theoretical physics of biological systems.
Here are two examples:
1) How do cells change their shapes and migrate? we develop theoretical models for how the active (non-equilibrium) forces in cells spontaneously organize to deform the cells into the huge variety of shapes observed in nature and propel cells during embryogenesis and cancer. The predictions of these models are compared to experiments on many animal types in labs in Israel and abroad.
2) How do animals, animal groups, and humans make decisions on their direction of motion ? we develop spin-based models, similar to the Ising model, to describe the interactions among animals in groups and within individual brains, during navigation. The surprising predictions of these models are compared to experiments performed on animals and humans.