Le laboratoire « Matière et Systèmes Complexes » (MSC) est une unité mixte de recherche du CNRS et de l’université (UMR 7057). Le laboratoire est installé depuis 2007 sur le nouveau campus de l’Université Paris Diderot, Paris Rive Gauche, dans le bâtiment Condorcet. Il est réparti sur plusieurs étages. La direction et le secrétariat se trouvent au 6e étage. Le directeur actuel en est Laurent Limat, secondé par la directrice adjointe Florence Gazeau.
Le laboratoire MSC a pour sujet d’étude la matière et les systèmes complexes sous toutes leurs formes. Il peut s’agir de fluides montrant des phénomènes complexes non-linéaires (facettages de jets ou de tourbillons, structures et propriétés complexes de mousses, phénomènes de mouillage, propagation de vagues et de tsunamis) ou bien, par exemple, de systèmes proches de la géophysique et de l’environnement (systèmes granulaires tels que les dunes, phénomènes d’érosion, morphogenèse des plantes et même des villes, nage collective d’algues ou de bactéries…). Les études théoriques et expérimentales conduisent à des applications comme par exemple les éoliennes flexibles de haut rendement, l’optimisation de méthodes d’enduisage, le contôle de propriétés de surface ou la récupération de la biomasse (ingénierie verte)...
Le laboratoire étudie également le couplage entre la physique et la biologie des systèmes vivants, avec une approche multi-échelle. Les recherches effectuées vont d’échelles moléculaires ou supra-moléculaires (assemblages des protéines, chromatine, cytosquelette etc.) jusqu’à l’échelle de l’organisme entier (méduses, poulets, vers etc.) en passant par des études plus fondamentales sur des cellules uniques sur lesquelles sont exercées des forces quantifiées, permettant de comprendre les propriétés biophysiques de la matière vivante. Ces études aboutissent à de possibles applications en ingénierie tissulaire ou régénération des tissus avec des transferts dans le domaine médical.
Le laboratoire est structuré en cinq équipes :
Cependant les activités de ces équipes se recoupent souvent dans des projets communs aux frontières entre les comportements physiques et/ou biologiques (exemple : comportement de mousses marines, mesures de forces dans des tissus reconstitués, etc.)
Date: 26 Mar 2014 - 15:18
Desc: Branched structures are ubiquitous in nature, both in living and non-living systems. While the functional benefits of branching organogenesis are straightforward, the developmental mechanisms leading to the repeated branching of epithelia in surrounding mesoderm remain unclear. Both molecular and physical aspects of growth control seem to play a critical role in shape emergence and maintenance. On the molecular side, the existence of a gradient of growth-promoting ligand between epithelial tips and distal mesenchyme seems to be common to branched organs. On the physical side, the branching process seems to require a mechanism of real-time adaptation to local geometry, as suggested by the self-avoiding nature of branching events. In this paper, we investigate the outcomes of a general three-dimensional growth model, in which epithelial growth is implemented as a function of ligand income, while the mesenchyme is considered as a proliferating viscous medium. Our results suggest that the existence of a gradient of growth-promoting ligand between distal and proximal mesenchyme implies a growth instability of the epithelial sheet, resulting in spontaneous self-avoiding branching morphogenesis. While the general nature of the model prevents one from fitting the development of specific organs, it suggests that few ingredients are actually required to achieve branching organogenesis.
Date: 10 12 月 2013 - 12:19
Desc: The arborescent architecture of mammalian conductive airways results from the repeated branching of lung endoderm into surrounding mesoderm. Subsequent lung's striking geometrical features have long raised the question of developmental mechanisms involved in morphogenesis. Many molecular actors have been identified, and several studies demonstrated the central role of Fgf10 and Shh in growth and branching. However, the actual branching mechanism and the way branching events are organized at the organ scale to achieve a self-avoiding tree remain to be understood through a model compatible with evidenced signaling. In this paper we show that the mere diffusion of FGF10 from distal mesenchyme involves differential epithelial proliferation that spontaneously leads to branching. Modeling FGF10 diffusion from sub-mesothelial mesenchyme where Fgf10 is known to be expressed and computing epithelial and mesenchymal growth in a coupled manner, we found that the resulting laplacian dynamics precisely accounts for the patterning of FGF10-induced genes, and that it spontaneously involves differential proliferation leading to a self-avoiding and space-filling tree, through mechanisms that we detail. The tree's fine morphological features depend on the epithelial growth response to FGF10, underlain by the lung's complex regulatory network. Notably, our results suggest that no branching information has to be encoded and that no master routine is required to organize branching events at the organ scale. Despite its simplicity, this model identifies key mechanisms of lung development, from branching to organ-scale organization, and could prove relevant to the development of other branched organs relying on similar pathways.
Date: 16 11 月 2015 - 11:51
Desc: We investigate how Murray's law is affected by fluids whose viscosity depends monotonously on shear rates, such as blood. Our study shows that Murray's original law also applies to such fluids, as long as they did not undergo phase separation effect. When Fåhraeus-like phase separation effects occur, we derive an extended version of Murray's law. Finally, we study how these new laws affect the optimal geometries of fractal trees to mimic an idealized arterial network. Our analyses are based on Quémada 's fluid model, but our approach is very general and apply to most fluids with shear dependent rheology.
Date: 16 11 月 2015 - 12:57
Desc: Specialty section: This article was submitted to Computational Physiology and Medicine, a section of the journal Frontiers in Physiology Citation: Mauroy B, Flaud P, Pelca D, Fausser C, Merckx J and Mitchell BR (2015) Toward the modeling of mucus draining from human lung: role of airways deformation on air-mucus interaction. Front. Physiol. 6:214. Chest physiotherapy is an empirical technique used to help secretions to get out of the lung whenever stagnation occurs. Although commonly used, little is known about the inner mechanisms of chest physiotherapy and controversies about its use are coming out regularly. Thus, a scientific validation of chest physiotherapy is needed to evaluate its effects on secretions. We setup a quasi-static numerical model of chest physiotherapy based on thorax and lung physiology and on their respective biophysics. We modeled the lung with an idealized deformable symmetric bifurcating tree. Bronchi and their inner fluids mechanics are assumed axisymmetric. Static data from the literature is used to build a model for the lung's mechanics. Secretions motion is the consequence of the shear constraints apply by the air flow. The input of the model is the pressure on the chest wall at each time, and the output is the bronchi geometry and air and secretions properties. In the limit of our model, we mimicked manual and mechanical chest physiotherapy techniques. We show that for secretions to move, air flow has to be high enough to overcome secretion resistance to motion. Moreover, the higher the pressure or the quicker it is applied, the higher is the air flow and thus the mobilization of secretions. However, pressures too high are efficient up to a point where airways compressions prevents air flow to increase any further. Generally, the first effects of manipulations is a decrease of the airway tree hydrodynamic resistance, thus improving ventilation even if secretions do not get out of the lungs. Also, some secretions might be pushed deeper into the lungs; this effect is stronger for high pressures and for mechanical chest physiotherapy. Finally, we propose and tested two a dimensional numbers that depend on lung properties and that allow to measure the efficiency and comfort of a manipulation.
Date: 7 Mar 2012 - 09:49
Desc: We investigate the nature of the dynamically inactive phase of a simple symmetric exclusion process on a ring. We find that as the system's activity is tuned to a lower-than-average value the particles progressively lump into a single cluster, thereby forming a kink in the density profile. All dynamical regimes, and their finite size range of validity, are explicitly determined.
Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7
U.F.R. Physique
Bâtiment Condorcet
10, rue Alice Domon et Léonie Duquet
75205 PARIS CEDEX 13