Biomedical active matter: Emergence and breakdown of collective functionalities
Abstract
Living systems are made of active materials with microscopic components that work together to perform macroscopic biological tasks. The breakdown of these collective functionalities leads to diseases, which, conversely, could be treated by exploiting self-organization in healthcare technologies. Here, we review recent advances in this rapidly growing field of biomedical active matter. The main themes are (1) collective self-assembly and spatiotemporal coordination; (2) collective motion, transport, and navigation; (3) collective sensing, signaling, and communication; and (4) collective adaptation, evolution, and learning. We discuss these emerging processes in a wide range of systems, including protein folding, biomolecular condensates, cytoskeleton dynamics, intracellular flows, bacterial biofilms, quorum sensing, cilia synchronization, wound healing, biolocomotion, neurons, endocrine signalling, and cardiovascular flow networks. For each, we highlight medical conditions associated with reduced collective functionality and how they may be treated using microrobotic swarms, bioinspired metamaterials, diagnostics, lab-on-chip devices, organoids, and other active and adaptive matter innovations.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2603.15778,
title = {Biomedical active matter: Emergence and breakdown of collective functionalities},
author = {Arnold Mathijssen and Hamed Almohammadi and Lauren Altman and Talia Calazans and M. J. Ferencz and Michelle Fung and Ian J. Lee and Maciej Lisicki and Ivy Liu and Maggie Liu and Tianyi Liu and Ernest Park and Ran Tao and Albane Thery and Zeyuan Wang and Margot Young},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.15778},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
Review paper, 33 pages, 5 figures