Coarse-Grained Modeling and Simulation of Biological Phenomena at the Intracellular Level

Professor Paul Atzberger

UCSB Mathematics

In this talk we shall discuss coarse-grained approaches in modeling and simulation of biological phenomena at the intracellular level. In many such processes thermal fluctuations and hydrodynamics play a fundamental role. Examples include the deformation and reorganization of complex polymer networks during cell motility, the flow of lipids during shape changes of membrane bilayers, and the transport of materials by molecular motor proteins. In this talk we shall discuss one approach toward modeling such systems consistently at a coarse-grained level capturing both the thermal fluctuations and hydrodynamic interactions. A few specific models will then be discussed, including a model of a molecular motor protein, and a coarse-grained model of a lipid bilayer membrane.