CoSy seminar: "Confused monomers meet periodic homogenization asymptotics while self-assembling collagen: Towards a quantitative interpretation of turbidimetry data"

Everyone is welcome and the first 40 people to register will be treated to a free lunch sandwich. If you do not want lunch, you are still welcome to join.

Register for a lunch sandwich (deadline: Sunday 9 February).

Abstract: Biological polymers that make up our cells and tissues are usually hierarchically structured. Such structural hierarchy must be encoded in the self-assembly process, from the earliest stages onward, in order to be able to produce the appropriate substructures. In this talk, we explore specific interaction features linked to the kinetics of multistage self-assembly processes via a multiscale discrete population dynamics model of Becker-Döring type. After performing (formally) a discrete-to continuum limit followed by a suitable two-scale periodic homogenization asymptotics, we derive a set of continuum equations that can interpret turbidimetry data on the self-assembly of collagen fibrils.

This presentation revisits old results reported in B. S. van Lith, A. Muntean, C. Storm, EPL 106 (2014) 68004 and points out new possible research questions; it should be perceived as an invitation for collaborations for those researchers potentially interested in this or related topics.

This is a lecture in the seminar series held by CIM (Centre for Interdisciplinary Mathematics).