On mathematical analysis of biomembrane structures

During the cellular processes, membrane instabilities play a crucial role across the several domains of life. In many cases, this is aided by evolutionary molecular complexes. For example, the complex contains protein monomers that adhere to the cell membrane and polymerize into thin filaments, which proceed to form a helical constricting bundle, eventually leading to the cleavage of the neck during cell division; the exact mechanism by which the helical filament induces curvature in the membrane is poorly understood. Recently, we explored the mechanics of membrane and filament coupling through a continuum model for both structures and presented computational strategies to solve the highly nonlinear model. In an ongoing work, we model a similar phenomenon associated with particles and use linear stability analysis to predict the onset of certain instabilities in the case when proteins are modeled as embedded particles. A part of this research is under current investigation using both numerical techniques as well as tools of local nonlinear analysis of bifurcating branches.

Speaker: Prof. Basant Lal Sharma

Biography: Prof. Basant Lal Sharma received a Bachelor of Technology in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, India, in 1999. In 2004, he received a Ph.D. in Mechanics (P. Rosakis) from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. After post-doctoral positions at Cornell University (S.H. Strogatz) and École Polytechnique, Palaiseau, Paris, France (L. Truskinovsky), he joined the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur in January 2007 as a Faculty member.