In a study involving members of Marie Doumic's group at Ecole Polytechnique (Palaiseau, France) and Maria Teresa Teixeira's group at the Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique (Paris, France), we present a stochastic model of growth of a cell population of cultured yeast cells with gradually decaying chromosome endings, called the telomeres. Telomeres play a major role in aging and...
The rapid succession of SARS-CoV-2 variants has underscored the importance of tracing the emergence of new subvariants with evolutionary advantages. Based on almost 15 million complete viral sequences from GISAID we investigated how the individual mutations that define Variants of Concern have emerged over time. We found that rather than accumulating mutations one at a time, key changes...
Understanding the biophysical mechanisms that govern gene expression pattern formation is crucial for reproducible and organized organ development. Although many genetic and mechanical factors involved in pattern formation are known, we still lack a comprehensive understanding of how cellular dynamics and biomechanical feedback are orchestrated to ensure precise and reproducible patterning. In...
Living systems are fundamentally thermodynamic structures operating far from equilibrium, characterized by continuous entropy production and driven by external energy fluxes. A key aspect of their long-term viability is their ability to adaptively regulate entropy dynamics in response to perturbations. In this contribution, we present a theoretical framework describing such entropy-driven...
