MOCA

Motility and communication in active matter: from aggregation in quorum sensing to signal transmission in biofilms

Objective: Bacteria are able to set up communication strategies that guarantee their survival in a variety of challenging, time-evolving environments. Such communication allows them to self-organize in complex aggregates, as observed in the early stage of biofilm formation, or to secure the survival of an entire colony via long-range signals exchanged when bacteria are embedded in the solid-like polymer matrix of the biofilm. The complexity of these processes involves a hierarchy of descriptive levels, as one focuses on aspects related to biology, chemistry, mathematics, and physics. The aim of the project is to develop models, with different layers of complexity, able to capture the basic physics behind motility-induced aggregation and communication in cellular aggregates. We will employ a cross-disciplinary approach which includes soft matter numerical modeling, statistical mechanics methods and experiments to some extent. This will be possible thanks to a synergic collaboration of young and senior researchers belonging to 3 research units or RUs (CNR,UniBA,UniCam).

Coordinator: Prof. Antonio Suma (Principal Investigator)

Funding Program: Bando PRIN 2022 - Decreto Direttoriale n. 104 del 02-02-2022

Total Budget (in €): 285062

UNIBA Budget (in €): 89953

Partnerships: CNR-ISC Uos "Sapienza" (Responsabile di Unità: Dr. Nicoletta Gnan), Università di Camerino, Dip. Fisica (Responsabile di Unità: Prof. Fabio Marchesoni)

Start Date: 2023

Participants: Dott.Pasquale Digregorio, Prof. Giuseppe Gonnella

Project Duration: 09/2023-02/2026

Other UNIBA Departments Involved: NO

List of Publications:

UNIBA team

M. Carenza, C.B. Caporusso, P. Digregorio, A. Suma, G. Gonnella et al., “Morphology, Polarization Patterns, Compression, and Entropy Production in Phase-Separating Active Dumbbell Systems”, Entropy 27, 1105 (2025). Gold Open Access. https://doi.org/10.3390/e27111105
M. Carenza, G. Negro, P. Digregorio, A. Suma, G. Gonnella, “Arrested phase separation and chiral symmetry breaking in active dumbbells under shear”, Physical Review Research 7, 043089 (2025). Gold Open Access. https://doi.org/10.1103/3t18-sq96
Digregorio, C.B. Caporusso, L.M. Carenza, G. Gonnella, D. Moretti et al., “Transverse Self-Propulsion Enhances the Aggregation of Active Dumbbells”, Entropy 27, 692 (2025). Gold Open Access. https://doi.org/10.3390/e27070692
Semeraro, G. Negro, A. Suma, F. Corberi, G. Gonnella, “Entropy production of active Brownian particles going from liquid to hexatic and solid phases”, Europhysics Letters 148, 37001 (2025). Gold Open Access. https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/ad895e
B. Caporusso, L.F. Cugliandolo, P. Digregorio, G. Gonnella, A. Suma, “Phase separation kinetics and cluster dynamics in two-dimensional active dumbbell systems”, Soft Matter 20, 4208 (2024). Green open access arXiv: 2402.06998 https://doi.org/10.1039/D4SM00200H

CNR team

Manacorda, É. Fodor, “Diffusive oscillators capture the pulsating states of deformable particles”, Physical Review E 111, L053401 (2025). Green Open Access, arXiv 2310.14370 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.111.L053401.

Zhang, A. Manacorda, É. Fodor, “Species interconversion of deformable particles yields transient phase separation”, New Journal of Physics 27, 043023 (2025). Gold Open Access. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/adccf1

Massana-Cid, C. Maggi, N. Gnan, G. Frangipane, R. Di Leonardo, “Multiple temperatures and melting of a colloidal active crystal”, Nature Communications 15, 6574 (2024). Gold Open Access. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50937-2
Lucente, A. Manacorda et al., “Optimal Control of an Electromechanical Energy Harvester”, Entropy 27, 268 (2025). Gold Open Access. https://doi.org/10.3390/e27030268

UNICAM team

Zhou, Q. Yin, S. Nayak, P. Bag, P.K. Ghosh, Y. Li, F. Marchesoni, “Visual quorum sensing in chiral suspensions: Hyperuniformity and edge currents”, PNAS Nexus 4, pgaf373 (2025). Gold Open access. https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf373
D. Bao, F. Marchesoni, “Kinetic energy diffusivity and scaling velocity correlation functions”, Physical Review Letters 134, 227103 (2025). Gold Open access. https://doi.org/10.1103/fmbw-9j8w
Nayak, P. Bag, P.K. Ghosh, Y. Li, Y. Zhou, Q. Yin, F. Marchesoni, F. Nori, “Diffusion transients in motility-induced phase separation”, Physical Review Research 7, 013153 (2025). Gold Open access. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.7.013153
Zhou, Y. Li, F. Marchesoni, “Clustering of quorum sensing colloidal particles”, National Science Open 3, 20230081 (2024). Gold Open access. https://doi.org/10.1360/nso/20230081
Zhou, Y. Li, F. Marchesoni, “A quorum sensing active matter in a confined geometry”, Chinese Physics Letters 40, 100505 (2023). Green Open access arXiv: 2309.06749 https://doi.org/10.1088/0256-307X/40/10/100505

Dissemination:

UNIBA unit:

Contributed talk: “Arrested phase separation and chiral symmetry breaking in active dumbbells under shear”, Division of Fluid Dynamics 78th Annual Meeting, Houston (USA), 23–25 November 2025
Contributed talk: “Rheological behaviour of a suspension of active chiral particles”, Division of Fluid Dynamics 78th Annual Meeting, Houston (USA), 23–25 November 2025
Contributed talk: “Flow behavior and odd viscosity of a suspension of chiral brownian particles”, Division of Fluid Dynamics 77th Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City (USA), 24–27 November 2024
Contributed talk: “Phase behaviour and dynamics of three-dimensional active dumbbell systems”, Division of Fluid Dynamics 77th Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City (USA), 24–27 November 2024
Poster: “Phase behaviour and dynamics of an active dumbbell systems”, The Physics of Self-Organising Active Matter, University of Edinburgh (UK), 8–10 July 2024

CNR unit:

Invited talk at CECAM Flagship Workshop “From Machine-Learning Theory to Driven Complex Systems and Back”, Lausanne, 22 May 2024.
Invited talk at “Ergodicity in Physical Systems and Beyond” conference, University of Lincoln, 10 July 2024.
Invited talk at Workshop “Stochastic Systems in Active Matter”, Isaac Newton Institute, Cambridge, 4 October 2024.
Talk at ISC-CNR annual Workshop , Rome, 6–7 February 2025.
Talk at conference “Biological Physics and Statistical Mechanics: from molecules to cells and beyond”, Naples, 9–13 June 2025.
Talk at conference StatPhys29, Florence, 13–18 July 2025.
Organization of workshop “Complex Diffusion in Soft Matter and Beyond”, Capri, 7–11 July 2025.
Organization of CECAM Flagship Workshop “Statistical Physics of Living Systems”, Lausanne, 16–19 September 2025.

UNICAM unit:

The UNICAM team organised and directed the International School of Statistical Physics – Course XXVIII: Active and Intelligent Living Matter II, held at the E. Majorana Centre in Erice (Italy) from 21 to 26 March 2026. Directed by Peter Hänggi and Fabio Marchesoni, the school brought together leading international experts and young researchers to discuss the latest advances in active matter, intelligent materials, and biological systems, providing high-level training and fostering new collaborations.

Acknowledgments

This project is funded by the European Union – NextGeneration EU Mission 4, Component 1, under the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR), PRIN 2022 programme,CUP H53D23000790006.