Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting| Aussois 2019

Biology and Physics Confront Cell-Cell Adhesion

Welcome Letter

October 2019

Dear Colleagues, We would like to welcome you to the Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting on Biology and Physics Confront Cell-Cell Adhesion . The purpose of the meeting is to bring together physicists who work on topics such as adhesion, fracture and friction with biologists who work on cell-cell contacts. These are communities that typically do not talk to each other very much, but which have much to mutually offer. Physicists bring major insights into the physical properties of adhesion without perhaps caring as much about molecular/cellular details whereas many biologists are rather the opposite. One interesting challenge is for each community to understand where the other is coming from, as we differ so much in the concepts that we use (and even the meaning of the words that we use). We think that this meeting will be an interesting opportunity to begin a dialogue between our two communities. In particular, we would really want this meeting to foster conversation that highlights the current parts that are NOT understood in soft matter or in cell-cell adhesion. To this end we have organized round table to stimulate cross conversation about the still-to-be discovered aspect of adhesion. We have tried to prepare a program of talks that cover many different aspects of cell-cell adhesion. We hope that the nice Alpine setting of Aussois will inspire many conversations and insights. Wishing you a wonderful and fruitful workshop. Sincerely yours, Sandrine Etienne-Manneville — Institut Pasteur, France Jean-Leon Maître — Curie Institute, France Virgile Viasnoff — National University of Singapore, Singapore Alpha Yap — University of Queensland, Australia