Spatial self-organization and motility in cytoskeletal active matter – Guillaume Sarfati (Laboratoire Jean Perrin, Sorbonne University, Paris)

Active matter, as an assembly of individual components able to move, is an interesting material to observe emergence of collective properties. Here, we study spatial self-organizations of cytoskeletal active matter made of microtubule filaments and kinesin molecular motors. In particular, we explain how two key parameters, concentrations of ATP and depleting agent, allow to generate different organizations : in-plane and out-of-plane bending, local and global contractions. We also confined this active matter into water in oil droplets : a microtubule nematic forms at the oil/water interface, offering motility to squeezed droplets.