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This interdisciplinary block seminar addresses students after the 4th semester from physics, biology, molecular biotechnology, molecular systems engineering and related fields. It is jointly organized by Friedrich Frischknecht (medicine, biology, parasitology), Christine Selhuber-Unkel (experimental biophysics) and Falko Ziebert and Ulrich Schwarz (theoretical biophysics). In our Vorbesprechung on Mon Oct 13 2025 at 4.15 pm, INF 267 (BioQuant), SR 44, we will fix the dates and distribute the subjects.
The ability to move is one of the most fundamental features of biological cells and nearly as important as their ability to grow and divide. A notable exception from this observation is the case of plant cells. However, most other cell types, including bacteria, unicellular eukaryotes and animal cells, usually require some kind of motility in order to function properly. Understanding how cells move is not only interesting from an academic point of view, it is also a subject of large practical relevance, ranging from the design of artificial motility in materials science to medical applications like the control of malaria infection or cancer metastasis. In this seminar, we will introduce the fundamental biological and physical mechanisms underlying cell motility, and discuss state-of-the-art research in this interdisciplinary research field.
The most important physical restrictions for cell motility are that (1) cells are small (typical size 10 micrometer) and (2) immersed in water, which on their small scale is extremely viscous (as quantified by the Reynolds number). One important aspect of the seminar will be to learn about the specific consequences of this situation. In the first half, we will discuss swimming microorganisms, like bacteria, algae, sperm or the parasite trypanosome, which typically move by rotating or beating a flagellum. In the second half, we will discuss cells which crawl or glide on surfaces, like human tissue cells, cancer cells, amoebae or malaria parasites.
Every participant will receive a description of his/her subject and some relevant papers. While preparing your talk, you can meet with the organizers, who will answer questions and give feedback. The talks are then given typically in groups of two or three students, and in three or four blocks in January 2026. This will be counted as obligatory seminar for bachelor students (PSEM, 2+1 CPs) and a mark will be reported for your transcript. For physics master students, you can get 6 CPs for an obligatory master seminar (MVSem), but for this you also have to hand in a 15-20 pages written paper on your subject after the seminar is finished. Similar rules apply for students from other faculties. Active participation during discussions is expected.
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