Mathematical Biology Seminar
Christel Hohenegger
CIMS, NYU
Wednesday Jan. 15, 2010
3:05pm in LCB 215
Modeling Biological Fluids
Abstract:
Cystic fibrosis is a common but lethal hereditary disease. One of its
symptoms is the dehydration and increased stickiness of lung mucus,
which results in frequent lung infections. Recent experimental
approaches, termed microrheology, have attempted to extract the
pertinent mechanical properties -- viscous and elastic material
response -- from very small volumes of material by measuring
statistical quantities such as auto- and cross-correlations of
optically tracked beads. However, microrheology still lacks good
understanding, and consequent technical tools, from basic physical
modeling. Using the physical picture of two-point microrheology, I
have developed and analyzed a Langevin-based model of the fluctuations
of two beads in a viscoelastic fluid, allowing a direct mapping of
statistical observables to mechanical properties. One application
of this model is the study of mean passage time of a tracer through
a mucosal layer which is relevant to the design of drug treatments.
I will also briefly introduce the topics of active suspensions. The
dynamics of such suspensions -- bacterial baths are an important
example -- has been the focus of much experimental and simulational
work in recent years. Here I will describe and discuss a recent
kinetic PDE model which has been the basis for my theoretical work
on stability -- given in detail in my colloquium talk -- focusing on
its underlying assumptions, structure, and some of its deficiencies.
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