At the largest scale, we study collective motility in systems ranging from clusters of cells to swarms of organisms with agent based computer models.
Our main interest lies in understanding how disorder affects swarming - whether the disorder is in the form of fog or obstacles or even variations in behavior among individuals due to their position in the group, disease or evolution or even mechanical failure in robotic swarms.
We have found, for example, that there is a critical amount of disorder that swarms can tolerate beyond which the system is able to self-organize in different ways, including sorting to leave behind defective swarmers, to overcome the disorder.
Another finding is that frustration between subgroups of cells within the same cluster can lead to novel collective modes including rotations, which have functional benefits in chemotactic clusters.
Below are some of our research papers on these topics:
"Cell cluster migration: Connecting experiments with physical models", Ajay Gopinathan and Nir Gov, Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semcdb.2018.09.009 (2019)
"Frustration-induced phases in migrating cell clusters", Katherine Copenhagen, Gema Malet-Engra, Weimiao Yu, Giorgio Scita, Nir Gov and Ajay Gopinathan, Science Advances, 4 (9), eaar8483 (2018)
"Self-organized sorting limits behavioral variability in swarms", K. Copenhagen, D.A. Quint, A. Gopinathan, Scientific Reports, 6, 31808 (2016).
"Active matter clusters at interfaces.", K. Copenhagen and A. Gopinathan , Front. Mater. 3:13. doi: 10.3389/fmats.2016.00013
"Topologically induced swarming phase transition on a 2D percolated lattice", D. Quint, A Gopinathan, Physical Biology, 17,12(4) 046008 (2015)
"Optimal cooperative searching using purely repulsive interactions", N. Tani, A. Blatt, D. Quint, A Gopinathan, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 361, 159–164 (2014)
Our main interest lies in understanding how disorder affects swarming - whether the disorder is in the form of fog or obstacles or even variations in behavior among individuals due to their position in the group, disease or evolution or even mechanical failure in robotic swarms.
We have found, for example, that there is a critical amount of disorder that swarms can tolerate beyond which the system is able to self-organize in different ways, including sorting to leave behind defective swarmers, to overcome the disorder.
Another finding is that frustration between subgroups of cells within the same cluster can lead to novel collective modes including rotations, which have functional benefits in chemotactic clusters.
Below are some of our research papers on these topics:
"Cell cluster migration: Connecting experiments with physical models", Ajay Gopinathan and Nir Gov, Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology https://doi.org/10.1016/j.semcdb.2018.09.009 (2019)
"Frustration-induced phases in migrating cell clusters", Katherine Copenhagen, Gema Malet-Engra, Weimiao Yu, Giorgio Scita, Nir Gov and Ajay Gopinathan, Science Advances, 4 (9), eaar8483 (2018)
"Self-organized sorting limits behavioral variability in swarms", K. Copenhagen, D.A. Quint, A. Gopinathan, Scientific Reports, 6, 31808 (2016).
"Active matter clusters at interfaces.", K. Copenhagen and A. Gopinathan , Front. Mater. 3:13. doi: 10.3389/fmats.2016.00013
"Topologically induced swarming phase transition on a 2D percolated lattice", D. Quint, A Gopinathan, Physical Biology, 17,12(4) 046008 (2015)
"Optimal cooperative searching using purely repulsive interactions", N. Tani, A. Blatt, D. Quint, A Gopinathan, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 361, 159–164 (2014)