Title: Self-Organization, Flows, and Transport in (and of) Living Cells

Speaker: Mike Shelley, Flatiron Institute

Abstract: Organisms organize their internal contents at the microscale through striking dynamical processes. In the early C. elegans embryo, pronuclei are positioned by the interplay of centrosomal arrays and molecular motors as the cell prepares for its first division. In female Drosophila, self-organized intracellular flows transport materials across growing egg cells, establishing functional asymmetries essential for development. And in males, ultralong sperm - as long as the organism itself - are packed and stored in a remarkable state of ordered unrest.

I will describe our work at Flatiron in understanding these phenomena by tightly interfacing multiscale modeling and simulation with quantitative experiment. The theoretical frameworks draw on fluid and nonlinear dynamics, coarse-graining, and active matter, and show how applied mathematics can illuminate the biophysical mechanisms that enable living systems to build, move, and organize themselves.

Zoom: https://northwestern.zoom.us/j/94666309272

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