Analysis and Applied Mathematics Seminar
Lingxing Yao
Case Western Reserve University
Osmotic water flow and solute diffusion in moving cells: mathematical model and numerical method
Abstract: Differences in solute concentration across a semipermeable membrane of cells generates
transmembrane osmotic water flow. The interaction of such flows with membrane and flow mechanics is a little explored
area despite its potential significance in many biological applications. Particularly, in recent studies,
experimental evidence suggests that membrane ion channels and aquaporins (water channels),
and thus, solute diffusion and osmosis, play an important role in cell movement.
To clarify the role of osmosis in cell movement, one needs to understand the interplay between solute diffusion, osmosis and mechanical forces.
In this presentation, we discuss a mathematical model that allows for studying the interplay between diffusive, osmotic
and mechanical effects, and the numerical method for solving the model system. An
osmotically active solute obeys a advection-diffusion equation in a region
demarcated by a deformable membrane. The interfacial membrane allows transmembrane water flow
which is determined by osmotic and mechanical pressure differences across the membrane.
The numerical method is based on an immersed boundary method for fluid-structure
interaction and a Cartesian grid embedded boundary method for the solute. We demonstrate our numerical algorithm
with the test case of an osmotic engine, a recently proposed mechanism for cell propulsion.
This is joint work with Yoichiro Mori at University of Minnesota.
Monday November 13, 2017 at 4:00 PM in SEO 636