Fluid-structure interactions in cellular biophysics (INVITED)

Abstract eng:
The cellular cytoskeleton is an assembly of microscopic filaments and molecular motors, and is the machinery for performing many cellular processes vital to life such as mitosis and cell division. Despite its critical role, important aspects of cytoskeletal mechanics remain poorly understood, particularly how the interactions of microscopic cytoskeletal elements — filaments and motor-proteins — with each other and the cellular cytoplasm relate to observed larger-scale behavior. One reason for this lack of understanding is the complexity of the fluid-structure interactions involved — mitosis and chromosome segregation can involve hundreds to tens-of-thousands of microtubules — and, when modeling, the difficulty in determining the key actors driving the phenomena. I will discuss recent advances in our theoretical understanding of some important cytoskeletally-driven processes, achieved partly through the development of highly efficient and flexible numerical methods for resolving and evolving large assemblies of microtubules, and partly through carefill combinations of experimental observation and biophysical modeling.

• Export as: BibTeX | MARC | MARCXML | DC | EndNote | NLM | RefWorks
• Add to your basket