Pattern formation in microtubule-motor mixtures + plans for future meetings

Ivan's talk (20 minutes)

Microtubules are long and stiff rod-like biopolymers playing an important role in all eukaryotic cells. Spatial distribution of microtubules inside cells is controlled by molecular motors. In this talk present a kinetic model describing pattern formation in microtubule-molecular motor mixtures. It is based on a Boltzmann-type equation that treats motor-mediated interaction between microtubules as ‘collisions’. We derive mean-field evolution equations for the density of microtubules, their orientation, and a nematic Q-tensor, and simulate their evolution numerically.

... followed by discussion of future plans for Statistical Physics and Complexity meetings.