EVENT DETAILS AND ABSTRACT

Title: Biophysical Modes of Polymer Dynamics
Speaker: Dr. Chris Wiggins, Courant Institute of Math. Sci
Speaker Info: NYU
Brief Description:
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Abstract:

Exploiting ideas from fluid dynamics and differential geometry, we formulate a nonlinear, coupled set of partial differential equations which model the dynamics of single twisted biopolymers. The resulting dynamic incorporates the balance between elasticity and viscous dissipation, the role of constraints (e.g., of inextensibility, the 1-d analog of incompressibility), and the geometry and dynamics of twist and writhe. By exploiting approximations from transport theory and non- Markovian processes, replacing a formal Dyson formula with a master equation, we also develop a formalism for describing the nonequilibrium dynamics of elastic biopolymers. While motivated by such twisted biopolymers as DNA, similar techniques are applicable in a variety of physical regimes, including inertial and high-Reynolds number dynamics. Tools originally developed to conquer challenges in cellular biophysics will be shown of great help in recent models applied to vastly different physical scales.