UBC Mathematics Department
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Colloquium Abstract: Dr. Robert Dillon, Department of Mathematics, Tulane University

Mathematical and computational modeling of moving boundaries and fluid dynamics in biological systems

A common feature of many biological systems is the interaction of elastic structures with a viscous incompressible fluid. In this talk, I will describe recent developments in modeling vertebrate limb outgrowth and development, bacterial motility and aggregation, and the movement of eucaryotic cilia and flagella. Although these biological systems come from diverse areas of biology, each can be formulated as a moving free-boundary boundary problem within a fluid-elastic medium. I will describe the numerical solution of these models based on the immersed boundary method and show the results of several computer simulations.

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