Modeling Equilibrium Configurations of Lipid Membranes Under Large Deformations
Hamilton, Emmett J.
2023
-
Membranes, such as those surrounding cells as well as organelles, play a key role in biology. These membranes often spontaneously form tubes or tethers to facilitate various biological functions due to forces exerted on them by motor proteins. Often, complex networks of such tubes extend from vesicles and interact with other objects for structural and transport processes, such as osmosis or viral ... read moreencapsulation. Computational models have been created of the shapes of tubes using various approximations and symmetries. However, modeling the process of formation, without assuming these simplifications, may reveal new information about the process of formation. In attempting to do this, the initial configuration of the membrane is treated as a flat disk, which is gradually pulled into an elongated tube. Throughout this process, the membrane is periodically optimized such that its energy is minimized, using a projected gradient descent algorithm. Other membrane structures, such as helicoidal ramps, found in the rough endoplasmic reticulum, and the joining of two membrane sheets with a connecting window can similarly be modeled.
Thesis (B.S.)--Tufts University, 2023.
Submitted to the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy.read less - ID:
- jw827r979
- To Cite:
- TARC Citation Guide EndNote
- Usage:
- Detailed Rights
