Talk abstract:

Adhesive Dynamics: Solved and Unsolved Problems

Daniel A. Hammer
University of Pennsylvania
Chemical Engineering & Institute of Medicine and Engineering
hammer@seas.upenn.edu

Adhesive dynamics is a computational method to simulate the adhesion of cells to surfaces. The method involves solving the equation of motion for a cell, and incorporates molecular properties such as bond kinetics and compliance. It has been succesful at simulating the dynamics of cell adhesion under flow, and for predicting how dynamic states of adhesion follow from molecular properties. It has also been used to simulate virus-cell interaction, the aggregation of cells in linear flows, and the detachment of cells from surfaces. For all that it has done, there are several major unsolved problems in bioadhesion science that need to be addressed, such as prediction of the shear threshold effect (where fluid flow accelerates the rate of cell surface bnding), hysteresis in rolling velocity, the effect of particle-particle interactions on adhesion dynamics, the effect of multivalency or multiple adhesion pathways, the transition from rolling to firm adhesion, and the role of signaling and cell deformability. I will provide a detailed description of the method, and outline how to do all these problems and explain why they are important.

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1998-1999 Mathematics in Biology