Daphné Raphaëlle Vannier

Abstract Many physiological processes, such as the shear flow alignment of endothelial cells in the vasculature, depend on the transition of cell layers between disordered and ordered phases. Here we demonstrate that such a transition is driven by the non-monotonic evolution of nematic topological defects in a layer of endothelial cells and the emergence of string excitations that bind the defects together.

Abstract Many physiological processes, such as the shear flow alignment of endothelial cells in the vasculature, depend on the transition of cell layers between disordered and ordered phases. Here, we demonstrate that such a transition is driven by the non-monotonic evolution of nematic topological defects and the emergence of topological strings that bind the defects together, unveiling an intermediate phase of ordering kinetics in biological matter.