Biography
Group Page: https://broederszgroup.com/
Chase Broedersz received his PhD from the Vrije University in Amsterdam in 2011 on the mechanics and dynamics of biopolymer networks. He then moved to Princeton University where he was awarded a Lewis-Sigler Fellowship to perform independent research on the physics of living systems as an associate research scholar and lecturer. In 2015, Chase started his research group with an appointment as a W2-Professor in statistical and biological physics at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich and was tenured in 2020. From 2017-2020, he was awarded with a membership in the Young College of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities. Since 2020, Chase is an associate professor at the VU in Amsterdam in the theoretical physics of living systems with a secondary affiliation at the LMU in Munich. In 2023, he received an ERC Consolidator grant.
Research description
Broedersz's group studies the statistical physics of living systems, ranging from chromosomes to migrating cells and multicellular tissues. We aim to understand the emergent functional dynamics and organization of living systems using a combination of mechanistic and data-driven theoretical approaches grounded in equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical physics, information theory, and soft condensed matter physics. We develop and apply these approaches in close collaboration with several experimental groups.
Dynamics of cell migration and tissue - The function of many cells depends on their ability to effectively migrate through complex environments. Our goal is to understand the dynamics of how cells overcome such migration challenges. Examples include the squeezing of a cell through a tight constriction, pairs of cells colliding, or the collective migration dynamics of groups of cells on tissues with geometric curvature. Using a combination of data-driven and mechanistic theoretical approaches, we seek simple dynamics laws that describe such confined cell migration.
Chromosome organization and mechanics - Chromosomes carry the information to generate a living cell. In both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, chromosomal DNA is highly compacted to fit inside its cellular confinement. This implies a major organizational problem: the DNA does not only have to be highly condensed, but its spatial organization must also facilitate processes such as transcription and replication. Using a combination of polymer physics and information theoretical approaches, we aim to understand the functional organization of chromosomes and how this organization changes under force, such as during chromosome segregation.
Non-equilibrium dynamics in living systems - Living systems, such as cells, operate far from thermodynamic equilibrium. One of the key challenges in the field is to measure the “distance from equilibrium” of living systems, often quantified with the entropy production rate, or equivalently the time-irreversibility of the dynamics. In our group we study how various measures of time-irreversibility – accessible in a non-invasive way – encode features of the active driving at work and how they manifest on different spatial scales.
