Mathematics Colloquium
MICHAEL SHELLEY
Courant and Flatiron Institute
Title: Self-Organization and Mechanics in the Cell
Date: Monday, April 29, 2019 (note special day)
Place and Time: Room 701, Keen Building, 3:35-4:25 pm (note special location)
Refreshments: Room 701, Keen Building, 3:00 pm
Abstract. The inside of a cell is an active place, with molecular machines busy positioning subcellular organelles, organizing themselves within membranes, or remodeling chromatin in the nucleus. I will discuss how mathematical modeling and large-scale simulations have interacted with experimental measurements and perturbations of such motor-driven biomechanical processes within the cell. This includes how the spindle finds its place in the cell, which is best treated as a complex mechanical systems that works with transitory elements, and how motor activity and hydrodynamic interactions may underlie an apparently self-organizing dynamics of chromatin in the nucleus.