Event Information
Frank Brown
(University of California, Santa Barbara)
Simple Models for Biomembrane Structure and Dynamics
Departmental Seminar
Simple Models for Biomembrane Structure and Dynamics
- Abstract:
- Simulation of biomembranes over length and time scales relevant to cellular biology is not currently feasible with Molecular Dynamics including full atomic detail. Barring an unforeseen revolution in the computer industry, this situation will not change for many decades. We present two coarse grained models for biomembranes that treat water implicitly (i.e. no water molecules appear in our simulations. The hydrophobic effect, hydrodynamics and related properties are approximately included without simulation of solvent). These models enable the study of systems and phenomena previously intractable to simulation. A number of applications to biological/biophysical systems will be discussed, including: diffusion of
membrane proteins over red blood cell membranes, fluctuation statistics and dynamics in intermembrane junctions and the deformation of lipid bilayers proximal to integral membrane proteins.
Host: David Beratan
Departmental Seminar