Our group operates at the interface of computational mathematics and cell biology. Broadly speaking, we look for problems where we can make a contribution to both mathematics and cell biology.
As the quantitative biologist Wallace Marshall once asked me: “What’s in it for the mathematicians?”
With this in mind, our research has a dual-track focus. In biology, we are determining how actin filament architecture and biochemistry shape macroscopic cell dynamics. On the mathematical side, we are developing new computational tools to simulate biochemistry and fiber mechanics. See the links at left for specific projects.
What biology are we studying?
The actin cytoskeleton is a dynamic network of filaments, cross linking proteins, and molecular motors that gives the cell its structure and shape and is involved in cell division and motility.
We are interested in how filament architecture and biochemistry shape the dynamics of actin networks (and by extension the mechanics of the cell).
What “new math” are we developing?
Actin networks present challenges for numerical methods. Filaments are slender and inextensible, cross linkers are stiff, and dynamics occur in a suspending fluid which immerses the filaments. Broadly speaking, our numerical methods focus on Brownian motion under constraints (see Maxian and Donev, Physics of Fluids 2024). Recently, we have become more interested in coupling these kinds of simulations to experimental data through an inverse problem framework. See project links at left for more information.