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Brian Adam, UNC-Chapel Hill – GMA & Visions Seminar
November 19, 2018 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Title: Building equations one molecule at a time
Abstract: I work on multiscale models of the cytoskeleton, a system of proteins that ultimately give biological cells their mechanical properties. At the molecular level, there is a bewildering amount of complexity, regulatory feedback, and redundancy. Making such a system mathematically tractable is a tall order, but one can start by considering much simpler models of interacting particles. In this talk, we’ll examine such a simple system composed rigid rods suspended in a fluid from introductory polymer physics/complex fluids. We’ll go through the derivation of the stress tensor for the macroscopic system highlighting the key statistical mechanics ideas and tools that can be used in analyzing more complex systems.