Math Biology Seminar Abstracts

Friday, March 15, 2002 3:05 pm LCB 323

Speaker: Charles Wolgemuth, UC Berkeley

Title: Towards a physics of cellular motility and morphology.

Abstract - Nature has engineered cells with many different shapes and many different methods for moving about. Are there underlying physical princliples that govern all of these systems? In this talk I will discuss three model biological systems: bacterial macrofiber formation, bacterial gliding motility, and the crawling of nematode sperm. Through the application of the physics of elasticity and hydrodynamics an understanding into the physical mechanisms that drive the shapes and motility of these systems are obtained. Can this physical picture help in understanding all, or at least most, of cellular motilitly and morphology?

For more information contact J. Keener, 1-6089

E-mail: keener@math.utah.edu