Events Archive

Feb
08
2012
Multiscale studies of cadherin-mediated cell adhesion
Cadherins constitute a large family of Ca2+-dependent adhesion molecules in the Inter-cellular junctions that play a pivotal role in the assembly of cells into specific three-dimensional tissues.  Although the molecular mechanisms underlying cadherin-mediated cell adhesion are still not fully understood, it seems likely that both cis dimers that are formed by binding of extracellular domains of two cadherins on the same cell surface, and trans-dimers formed between cadherins on opposing cell surfaces, are critical to trigger the junction formation. Here we present a new multiscale computational strategy to model the process of junction formation...
Feb
06
2012
Effective Field Theory and Ultracold Atoms
The development of the technology for trapping atoms in the vacuum and cooling them to ultralow temperatures has opened up the exciting new field of cold atom physics.  This field provides a new domain of applications for local quantum field theory, an approach whose previous applications have been primarily in high energy particle physics and have involved energy scales that are more than 20 orders of magnitude higher.  I will describe a systematic approximation method for quantum field theory called Effective Field Theory that has proved to be a powerful framework for addressing many important problems in ultracold atoms.
Feb
01
2012
Three-dimensional Analysis of Clathrin-mediated Membrane Trafficking in Living Cells
Jan
30
2012
Ion and nanodrop injection from Taylor cones into gases and liquids
Jan
25
2012
Formulate Biological Sensory Adaptation
Jan
23
2012
Spiral waves and the heart: a physics approach to the study and control of the complex spatiotemporal organization of cardiac arrhythmias
The heart is an electro-mechanical system in which, under normal conditions, electrical waves propagate in a coordinated manner to initiate an efficient contraction. In pathologic states, propagation can destabilize and exhibit period-doubling bifurcations that can result in both quasiperiodic and spatiotemporally chaotic oscillations. In turn, these oscillations can lead to single or multiple rapidly rotating spiral or scroll waves that generate complex spatiotemporal patterns of activation that inhibit contraction and can be lethal if untreated. Despite much study, little is known about the actual mechanisms that initiate, perpetuate, and terminate...
Jan
18
2012
Body sculpting: Tissue mechanics in development and regeneration
Embryogenesis and regeneration are among the most striking and beautiful phenomena in nature. For a physicist, this brings together many major themes—pattern formation, information processing, the mechanics of complex fluid-like materials—that are essential for our understanding of life more broadly. In my talk I will give two examples on the important role of tissue mechanics for these phenomena. First, I will discuss how a macroscopic tissue property, specifically tissue surface tension, is connected to the properties of the constituent cells, such as cortical tension and adhesion. I will directly compare theoretical...
Jan
12
2012
Certainty And Uncertainty In Dark Matter Searches
Departing from the context of CoGeNT and COUPP, two direct searches for WIMP dark matter, we will inspect the recent landscape of anomalies observed by these and several other detectors. The aim of this talk is to communicate an appreciation for the subtleties inherent to experimental efforts in this field, and for the considerable difficulties that await for those trying to make sense of WIMP search observations (or lack thereof).
Jan
09
2012
Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011: Dan Shechtman and the discovery of quasicrystals
Dec
15
2011
Verifying the no-hair property of massive compact objects with intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals in Advanced LIGO
The detection of gravitational waves from the inspiral of a neutron star or stellar-mass black hole into an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) promises an entirely new look at strong field gravitational physics. Gravitational waves from these intermediate-mass-ratio inspirals (IMRIs), systems with mass ratios from 10:1 to 100:1, may be detectable at rates of up to a few tens per year and will encode a signature of the central body's spacetime. Direct observation of the spacetime will allow us to use the "no-hair" theorem of general relativity to determine if the IMBH is a Kerr black hole (or some more exotic object, e.g. a boson star). In this talk, I will discuss the...

Pages