Coupling cell mechanics and functions in neurons
Event details
| Date | 07.02.2012 |
| Hour | 14:00 |
| Speaker | Dr. Antoine Jerusalem, IMDEA Materials Institute, Madrid |
| Location |
ME B3 31
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
The field of computational cell mechanics encompasses different scales ranging from individual monomers, cytoskeleton constituents, up to the full cell. Its focus, fueled by the development of interdisciplinary collaborative efforts between engineering, computer science
and biology, until recently relatively isolated, has allowed for important breakthroughs in biomedicine, bioengineering or even neurology. Among all cells, neurons are at the heart of tremendous medical challenges (traumatic brain injuries, Alzheimer’s disease, etc.). In nearly all of these challenges, the intrinsic coupling between mechanical and chemical mechanisms in the neuron is of drastic relevance. This presentation aims at highlighting the relevance of
such coupling through significant examples linked to neuronal growth and health, as well as during damaging events such as TBI and Alzheimer’s disease. To this end, both Finite Element and Finite Difference Methods (including our in-house code Neurite) are used. In the first example, blast effects on the health of an individual cell and its intrinsic biostructures are studied; the second example will focus on a new functional damage criterion for white matter myelinated axon and its effect on the electrical propagation along the axon; and a third example will deal with axonal growth and its relation with the axon mechanical properties.
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Practical information
- General public
- Free