Jens Elgeti
 

Physical Approach of Biological Problems, Institut Curie, 26 rue d'Ulm, 75248 Paris cedex 05, France

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From a physics perspective, tissues can be regarded as an active material: A material that can grow. Over the past decades the notion that physics, and in particular mechanics plays an important role in growth dynamics has evolved from hypothesis to fact. 
Even though an increasing number of experiments and theoretical works have focused on this puzzle, and many pieces have been found, we are still far from seeing the whole picture. 

In this work we want to shed a light on the basic mechanical properties we expect from a tissue. We model biological tissues using a simple, mechanistic simulation based on dissipative particle dynamics. We investigate the continuum behavior of the simulated tissue and determine its dependence on the properties of the individual cell. 
Consistent with continuum theory predictions, we identify a mechanic factor for competitive growth: The homeostatic pressure. In close collaboration with experiments, we study the effect of pressure on growth. Furthermore we show that cell turnover fluidifies a tissue and thus behaves liquid like on long time scales.