How cells are ahead of the curve

Such universal principles allow a better understanding of the migration of immune and cancer cells, paving the way for new treatment options

20-Mar-2024 - The curvature of a surface determines the migration behavior of biological cells. They preferentially move along valleys or grooves while avoiding ridges. These findings with contribution from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) and the Weizmann Institute of ...

The junction is the key: Researchers decrypt transport dynamics of porous media

What laws govern how chemicals pass through filters? How do droplets of oil move through layers of stone? How do blood cells travel through a living organism?

02-Dec-2022 - A team of researchers led by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) has discovered how pore space geometry impacts transport of substances through fluids. Concentration takes energy. As you read this article, the blood ...

When making a detour is faster

Novel navigation strategies for microscopic swimmers

11-Oct-2022 - Autonomous optimal navigation of microswimmers is in fact possible, as researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) showed. In contrast to the targeted navigation of boats, the motion of swimmers at the microscale is strongly disturbed by fluctuations. The ...

Evolutionary model predicts partitioning of molecules within cells

29-Jul-2022 - Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) in Göttingen, Germany, and Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands, have developed a new theoretical method to study mixtures consisting of many different molecules. They analyzed how the molecules ...

Competing cells: Cleaning up after yourself brings benefits

22-Jul-2022 - When different cell types compete in a confined space, those which remove debris faster have a better chance to dominate their environment. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) showed in their model that not only a higher net proliferation rate, ...

How well masks protect

A detailed study shows the maximum risks of being infected by the coronavirus for different scenarios with and without masks

07-Dec-2021 - Three metres are not enough to ensure protection. Even at that distance, it takes less than five minutes for an unvaccinated person standing in the breath of a person with Covid-19 to become infected with almost 100 percent certainty. That's the bad news. The good news is that if both are wearing ...

More efficient together

Proximity between identical enzymes can lead to a substantial improvement in their catalytic efficiency

17-Nov-2021 - Mechanically coupled enzymes show an increase in their catalytic efficiency – this is the result from a study by the group of Ramin Golestanian and Jaime Agudo-Canalejo from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization. The researchers concluded that enzymes can benefit from ...

Recurrent lockdowns are not necessary for pandemic control

Test-trace-and-isolate has been proven very effective for breaking infection chains

05-Nov-2021 - A new study in Science Advances analyses the mitigation of infectious disease outbreaks. It shows that recurrent strict lockdowns are not necessary for long-term control of pandemics – as long as moderate precautionary measures are sustained. The researchers from the Max Planck Institute for ...

Cellular filaments keeping the pace

Study lays the foundation for a multitude of potential applications

11-Aug-2021 - A new model describes the coordination of beating cilia allowing to predict their functional behavior. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS) analyzed the formation of metachronal waves in arrays of cilia and how external cues might influence them. ...

New app calculates corona infection risk in rooms

Size of aerosol droplets that virus carriers release strongly influences infectivity

13-Apr-2021 - The risk of being infected with the corona virus indoors can now be determined more reliably than before using a web app. A team from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen and the University Medical Center Göttingen uses a refined statistical method in the web ...