Karsten Kruse

Department of Biochemistry (50%) and department of Theoretical Physics applied to Biology (50%), University of Geneva

Full Professor
Project Leader: Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems
Principal Investigator: Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

About Karsten Kruse

Karsten Kruse joined the University of Geneva as Full Professor in August 2016. Before joining the UNIGE, he worked for the department of Theoretical Physics, Saarland University (Saarbrücken, Germany), where he made outstanding contributions to the field of physics of non-equilibrium processes in biological systems. His current group aims to understand collective phenomena in living cells and other biological systems by using methods and concepts from theoretical physics to study specific systems preferentially in collaboration with experimental colleagues. From the point of view of physics, the challenge lies in treating systems out of thermodynamic equilibrium that have a biological function and an evolutionary history. To do justice to all of these aspects requires the development of new tools and approaches.

Most of his projects address different aspects of cytoskeletal dynamics in the context of cell migration and division. In addition, his lab studies pattern formation in bacteria, collective effects in cell signalling, and aspects of molecular evolution.

Read more about Karsten Kruse’s research on his lab website.

Contact

Department of Biochemistry
University of Geneva
30, quai Ernest Ansermet
1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
Email: [email protected]

Projects

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Publications

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Project 2: Probing and modulating protein assemblies - focus on centrioles

Joël Schaer, Mireia Andreu-Carbó, Karsten Kruse, Charlotte Aumeier, “The effect of motor-induced shaft dynamics in microtubule stability and length”, biorxiv 2022. Open access [More Information]

Project 2: Probing and modulating protein assemblies - focus on centrioles

Mireia Andreu-Carbó, Simon Fernandes, Marie-Claire Velluz, Karsten Kruse, Charlotte Aumeier, “Motor usage imprints microtubule stability along the shaft”, Developmental Cell, 2022. [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Pearce D.J.G., Kruse K., “Properties of twisted topological defects in 2D nematic liquid crystals”, Soft Matter, 17, 7408, 2021. Open access [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Pearce D.J.G., Gat S., Livne G, Bernheim-Groswasser A., Kruse K., “Programming active metamaterials using topological defects”, arXiv:2010.13141, 2021. Open access [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Blanch-Mercader C, Guillamat P, Roux A, Kruse K., “Quantifying Material Properties of Cell Monolayers by Analyzing Integer Topological Defects”, Phys Rev Lett. 2021 Jan 15;126(2):028101. [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Pau Guillamat, Carles Blanch-Mercader, Karsten Kruse, Aurélien Roux, “Integer topological defects of cell monolayers: Mechanics and flows”, Phys Rev E. 2021 Jan;103(1-1):012405. Open access [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

L. Stankevicins, N. Ecker, E. Terriac, P. Maiuri, R. Schoppmeyer, P. Vargas, A.-M. Lennon-Duménil, M. Piel, B. Qu, M. Hoth, K. Kruse, and F. Lautenschläger, “Deterministic actin waves as generators of cell polarization cues”, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 117, 826, 2020. Open access [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

X. Fang, K. Kruse, T. Lu, and J. Wang, “Nonequilibrium physics in biology”, Rev. Mod. Phys. 91, 045004, 2019. [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

N. Levernier and K. Kruse, “Spontaneous formation of chaotic protrusions in a polymerizing active gel layer”, New J. Phys. 22, 013003, 2020. Open access [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Frederic Folz, Lukas Wettmann, Giovanna Morigi, and Karsten Kruse, “Sound of an axon’s growth”, Phys. Rev. E 99, 050401(R) , 2019. [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Project 2: Probing and modulating protein assemblies - focus on centrioles

Kerstin Klinkert, Nicolas Levernier, Peter Gross, Christian Gentili, Lukas von Tobel, Marie Pierron, Coralie Busso, Sarah Herrman, Stephan W Grill, Karsten Kruse, Pierre Gönczy, “Aurora A depletion reveals centrosome-independent polarization mechanism in Caenorhabditis elegans”, eLife 2019;8:e44552. Open access [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Wasnik V.H., Lipp P., Kruse K., “Accuracy of position determination in Calcium signaling”, Phys. Rev. E 100, 022401 2019. [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Wasnik V.H., Lipp P., Kruse K., “Positional information readout in Calcium signaling”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 058101, 2019. [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Anastasiya Trushko, Ilaria Di Meglio, Aziza Merzouki, Carles Blanch-Mercader, Shada Abuhattum, Jochen Guck, Kevin Alessandri, Pierre Nassoy, Karsten Kruse, Bastien Chopard, Aurélien Roux, “Buckling of epithelium growing under spherical confinement”, Dev Cell, 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2020.07.019. Open access. Dataset info: “Buckling of epithelium growing under spherical confinement Trushko et al.“ [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

S. Du, S. Pichoff, K. Kruse, and J. Lutkenhaus, “FtsZ filaments have the opposite kinetic polarity of microtubules”, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115, 10768, 2018. Open access [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Kreten F.H., Hoffmann Ch., Riveline D., Kruse K., “Active bundles of polar and bipolar filaments”, Phys. Rev. E 98, 012413, 2018. [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

Y. Ideses, V. Erukhimovitch, R. Brand, D. Jourdain, J. Salmeron Hernandez, U. Gabinet, S. A. Safran, K. Kruse, and A. Bernheim-Groswasser, “Spontaneous buckling of contractile poroelastic actomyosin sheets”, Nat. Comms., 2018. [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

L. Wettmann and K. Kruse, “The Min-protein oscillations in Escherichia coli: an example of self-organized cellular protein waves”, Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci., 373, 20170111, 2018. [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

K. Kruse, N. Chiaruttini, and A. Roux, “Optical control of cytoplasmic flows”, Nat. Cell Biol. 20, 227, 2018. [More Information]

Project 3: Imaging mechanical forces in living systems

J. Mueller, G. Szep, M. Nemethova, I. de Vries, A.D. Lieber, C. Winkler, K. Kruse, J.V. Small, C. Schmeiser, K. Keren, R. Hauschild, and M. Sixt, “Load adaptation of lamellipodial actin networks”, Cell 171, 188, 2017.

K. Kruse, K. Sugihara, “2018 International Symposium on Chemical Biology of the NCCR Chemical Biology”, Chimia 72, 160, 2018. [More Information]