Spatial stochastic models of intracellular dynamics in dilute and crowded conditions
| Dates: | 13 May 2019 |
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| Times: | 14:00 - 15:00 |
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| What is it: | Seminar |
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| Organiser: | Department of Mathematics |
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| Who is it for: | University staff, External researchers, Adults, Alumni, Current University students |
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| Speaker: | Ramon Grima |
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Join us for this research seminar, part of the Mathematics in the life sciences seminar series.
Stochastic effects in biochemical reaction systems are commonly studied by means of the Reaction-Diffusion Master equation (RDME). The RDME is computationally efficient and has the advantage of being amenable to analysis. However the RDME assumes point particle interactions, i.e. dilute conditions. This presents a problem because the intracellular environment can be highly crowded with up to 40% of its volume being occupied by various macromolecules. In this talk I will discuss our recent work showing how the RDME can be modified to take into account volume-excluded interactions. This can be solved in certain conditions yielding explicit expressions for the dependence of reactant number fluctuations on the available volume fraction of space. I will also discuss how one can use the modified RDME to derive coupled nonlinear partial differential equations which describe molecular movement in highly heterogeneous crowded environments and which hence offer a realistic alternative to the classical diffusion equation. All results will be contrasted with those obtained from Brownian dynamics.
Speaker
Ramon Grima
Organisation: The University of Edinburgh
Biography: See Ramon Grima's profile:
Travel and Contact Information
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Lecture theatre E
Zochonis Building
Manchester
