Author Description

The topics of the book include intracellular motility and cytoplasma dynamics (e.g. cell division), single cell movement in varying extracellular media (e.g. chemotaxis or contact guidance), cell aggregation and cooperative motion (e.g. cellular swarms or slugs) and, finally, cell-cell interactions in developing tissues (e.g. embryogenesis or plant movement). The most important feature of the book is that it considers possible synergetic mechanisms of interaction and cooperation on different microscopic levels: on the molecular level of cytoskeletal polymers, membrane proteins and extracellular matrix filaments, as well as on the level of cells and cellular tissues. New results concern the aspects of filament or cell alignment, various modes of force transduction and the formation of global stress fields. The latter aspect of mechanical cell-cell communication is emphasized in order to complement the well-studied phenomena of chemical, genetical or electrophysical communication.