Professor Suzanne Fielding - Active soft matter: modelling the mechanics of biological tissue AbstractThe deformation and flow properties of biological tissues are important in processes such as embryo development, wound healing and tumour invasion. Indeed, processes such as these spontaneously generate stresses within living tissue via active process at the single cell level. Tissues are also continually subject to external stresses and deformations from surrounding tissues and organs. The success of numerous physiological functions relies on the ability of cells to withstand stress under some conditions, yet to flow collectively under others. Biological tissue is furthermore inherently viscoelastic, with a slow time-dependent mechanics. Despite this rich phenomenology, the mechanisms that govern the transmission of stress within biological tissue, and its response to bulk deformation, remain poorly understood to date. Recent work on simplified vertex models of confluent tissue monolayers has uncovered a spontaneous liquid-to-solid transition tuned by cell shape.After a pedagogical introduction to the research areas of soft matter physics and rheology (the science of deformation and flow), this talk will describe three recent research projects in modelling the rheology of biological tissue.BiographySuzanne Fielding obtained her first degree in physics from Oxford University in 1997 and her PhD from Edinburgh University in 2000. Following postdoctoral research at Leeds University she spent four years lecturing in applied mathematics at Manchester University, before moving to the Department of Physics at Durham University in 2009. Her research interests lie in theoretical and computational soft matter physics, rheology, statistical mechanics and fluid dynamics. Oct 31 2024 15.00 - 16.00 Professor Suzanne Fielding - Active soft matter: modelling the mechanics of biological tissue Edinburgh Fluid Dynamics Group welcomes Professor Suzanne Fielding in an exciting new series of colloquia co-funded by the Schools of Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics and Astronomy. G.27 Lecture Theatre 1, Daniel Rutherford Building, King's Buildings This article was published on Wednesday 2 September 2026
Professor Suzanne Fielding - Active soft matter: modelling the mechanics of biological tissue AbstractThe deformation and flow properties of biological tissues are important in processes such as embryo development, wound healing and tumour invasion. Indeed, processes such as these spontaneously generate stresses within living tissue via active process at the single cell level. Tissues are also continually subject to external stresses and deformations from surrounding tissues and organs. The success of numerous physiological functions relies on the ability of cells to withstand stress under some conditions, yet to flow collectively under others. Biological tissue is furthermore inherently viscoelastic, with a slow time-dependent mechanics. Despite this rich phenomenology, the mechanisms that govern the transmission of stress within biological tissue, and its response to bulk deformation, remain poorly understood to date. Recent work on simplified vertex models of confluent tissue monolayers has uncovered a spontaneous liquid-to-solid transition tuned by cell shape.After a pedagogical introduction to the research areas of soft matter physics and rheology (the science of deformation and flow), this talk will describe three recent research projects in modelling the rheology of biological tissue.BiographySuzanne Fielding obtained her first degree in physics from Oxford University in 1997 and her PhD from Edinburgh University in 2000. Following postdoctoral research at Leeds University she spent four years lecturing in applied mathematics at Manchester University, before moving to the Department of Physics at Durham University in 2009. Her research interests lie in theoretical and computational soft matter physics, rheology, statistical mechanics and fluid dynamics. Oct 31 2024 15.00 - 16.00 Professor Suzanne Fielding - Active soft matter: modelling the mechanics of biological tissue Edinburgh Fluid Dynamics Group welcomes Professor Suzanne Fielding in an exciting new series of colloquia co-funded by the Schools of Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics and Astronomy. G.27 Lecture Theatre 1, Daniel Rutherford Building, King's Buildings This article was published on Wednesday 2 September 2026
Oct 31 2024 15.00 - 16.00 Professor Suzanne Fielding - Active soft matter: modelling the mechanics of biological tissue Edinburgh Fluid Dynamics Group welcomes Professor Suzanne Fielding in an exciting new series of colloquia co-funded by the Schools of Engineering, Mathematics, and Physics and Astronomy.
