Abstract: Biophysics of cell motility and membranes and other assorted interesting problems

I often describe the primary area of research in my group as cell motility. How cells produce force, interact with their environment and other cells, and move from place to place, either alone or in groups. Two main things we like to look at are spirochete bacteria (which cause diseases like Lyme disease, syphilis, leptospirosis, and periodontal diseases, and many others) and cancer metastasis (when cancer cells break free of their original tumor and start migrating through the body). All of these processes involve cell shape changes and exerting force on the surrounding environment, which can be largely be described using solid and fluid mechanics (which is the true heart of my research). We also are working on other projects involving how proteins deform cellular membranes (important in viral entry, endocytosis, exocytosis) and the general theory of suspensions (with projects related to ice crystals in clouds and the motions of active matter). To address these problems, my group uses a blend of analytic calculations, computational simulations, and experiments. On the theory/math/computation side, we primarily solve PDEs and come up with new algorithms for solving time dependent problems in 1D, 2D and 3D.

In this presentation, I will introduce some of the systems that we look at and give a rundown on some of the open problems that we are currently working on.