{"682164":{"#nid":"682164","#data":{"type":"external_news","title":"How a Biofilm\u2019s Strange Shape Emerges From Cellular Geometry","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBiofilms have emergent properties: traits that appear only when a system of individual items interacts. It was this emergence that attracted \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E Associate Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/peter-yunker\u0022\u003EPeter Yunker\u003C\/a\u003E to the microbial structures. Trained in soft matter physics \u2014 the study of materials that can be structurally altered \u2014 he is interested in understanding how the interactions between individual bacteria result in the higher-order structure of a biofilm\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERecently, in his lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Yunker and his team created detailed topographical maps of the three-dimensional surface of a growing biofilm. These measurements allowed them to study how a biofilm\u2019s shape emerges from millions of infinitesimal interactions among component bacteria and their environment. In 2024 in \u003Cem\u003ENature Physics\u003C\/em\u003E, they described \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41567-024-02572-3\u0022\u003Ethe biophysical laws\u003C\/a\u003E that control the complex aggregation of bacterial cells.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe work is important, Yunker said, not only because it can help explain the staggering diversity of one of the planet\u2019s most common life forms, but also because it may evoke life\u2019s first, hesitant steps toward multicellularity.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBiofilms have emergent properties: traits that appear only when a system of individual items interacts. It was this emergence that attracted \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/physics.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ESchool of Physics\u003C\/a\u003E Associate Professor \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/peter-yunker\u0022\u003EPeter Yunker\u003C\/a\u003E to the microbial structures. Trained in soft matter physics \u2014 the study of materials that can be structurally altered \u2014 he is interested in understanding how the interactions between individual bacteria result in the higher-order structure of a biofilm\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERecently, in his lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Yunker and his team created detailed topographical maps of the three-dimensional surface of a growing biofilm. These measurements allowed them to study how a biofilm\u2019s shape emerges from millions of infinitesimal interactions among component bacteria and their environment. In 2024 in \u003Cem\u003ENature Physics\u003C\/em\u003E, they described \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41567-024-02572-3\u0022\u003Ethe biophysical laws\u003C\/a\u003E that control the complex aggregation of bacterial cells.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe work is important, Yunker said, not only because it can help explain the staggering diversity of one of the planet\u2019s most common life forms, but also because it may evoke life\u2019s first, hesitant steps toward multicellularity.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":"","uid":"36583","created_gmt":"2025-05-01 17:04:55","changed_gmt":"2025-05-02 14:41:46","author":"lvidal7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","publication":"Quanta Magazine ","field_article_url":"","publication_url":"https:\/\/www.quantamagazine.org\/how-a-biofilms-strange-shape-emerges-from-cellular-geometry-20250421\/","dateline":{"date":"2025-04-21T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-04-21T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"170023","name":"biofilm"},{"id":"166937","name":"School of Physics"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}