Description
Aggregates of undifferentiated cells need to carefully regulate the access of nutrients to their interior, in order to ensure the viability of the whole population and enable their expansion. In this talk I will use bacterial biofilms as model systems to uncover the fundamental principles underlying the spatiotemporal self-organization of cellular populations. We will discuss in particular how metabolic constraints lead to growth oscillations that help the cellular community cope with conflicting demands of protection and nutrient availability. Furthermore, we observe that cells within these structured populations communicate their state of stress via electrical signals similar to those found in more complex cells such as neurons.
