SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE
Motility induced phase separation of deformable cells†
Austin
Hopkins, 
*a
Benjamin
Loewe,
b
Michael
Chiang,
b
Davide
Marenduzzo
b
and
M. Cristina
Marchetti
*a
*a
Benjamin
Loewe,
b
Michael
Chiang,
b
Davide
Marenduzzo
b
and
M. Cristina
Marchetti
*a
Abstract
Using a multi-phase field model, we examine how particle deformability, which is a proxy for cell stiffness, affects motility induced phase separation (MIPS). We show that purely repulsive deformable, i.e., squishy, cells phase separate more effectively than their rigid counterparts. This can be understood as due to the fact that deformability increases the effective duration of collisions. In addition, the dense regions become increasingly disordered as deformability increases. Our results contextualize the applicability of MIPS to biological systems and have implications for how cells in biological systems may self-organize.
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