Séminaire du LPTMS : Florian Goirand (TUM Munich)

Living matter exhibits properties that are commonly found to be shared far more widely than just among different individuals of the same species. The ubiquity of these properties makes it possible to investigate in model systems elementary processes that belong to more complex phenomena and for systems where biological data are lacking. Yet, the understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that lead to their emergence is still an active field of research. In particular, deciphering the relationship between the structure and function(s) of evolving systems has been the subject of numerous studies, even recently. Indeed, if infering the impact of the system structure on the realization of a given task is relatively straightforward, it is much less obvious to consider task performance as the main driver of the emergence of structure and dynamics. However, the latter approach, pioneered by Murray nearly a century ago, has proved to be relevant for successfully predicting the emergence of geometric and topological properties in many adaptive biological systems. Following both approaches, we use numerical and analytical methods to investigate the relationship between structure and function in brain microvascular networks. First, we show how structure drives properties in healthy and altered brain microvascular networks. In particular, we focus on the response of the system to perturbations such as (micro)strokes in the context of early detecting and treating brain pathologies with novel therapeutic approaches. Second, we present how function may contribute to the morphogenesis of brain microvascular networks, highlighting that fundamental topological properties of brain microvascular networks can emerge spontaneously from a basic optimization process. Finally, we present stimulating perspectives for future research, stressing on two specific research directions. On the one hand, we discuss the possibility of designing microfluidic devices of function-driven tunable properties. On the other hand, we propose means to investigate the robustness of the neurovascular couple, seen as a network of networks, in the context of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.