This is a past event
A Mechanics of Materials and Structures Research Group seminar by Professor David J. Steigmann, University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A.
General contact conditions are developed for lipid membranes interacting with curved substrates along their edges. These include the anchoring conditions familiar from liquid-crystal theory and accommodate non-uniform membranes and non-uniform adhesion between a bulk uid or membrane and a rigid substrate. The theory is illustrated through explicit solutions and numerical simulations. The equilibrium theory is modified to include the effects of a continuous distribution of trans-membrane proteins. These influence membrane shape and evolve in accordance with a diffusive balance law. The model is purely mechanical in the absence of the proteins. Conditions ensuring energy dissipation in the presence of diffusion are given and an example constitutive function is used to simulate the coupled inertia-less interplay between membrane shape and protein distribution. The work extends an earlier continuum theory of equilibrium configurations of composite lipid-protein membranes to accommodate surface diffusion.
- Speaker
- Professor David J Steigmann
- Hosted by
- School of Engineering
- Venue
- Maths Seminar Room (FN156)