The role of anisotropy in elastic membrane interactions #

Matthew Cotton

11:10 Wednesday in 4Q08.

Part of the Filaments, membranes, and shells session.

Abstract #

Elastic interactions mediated by biological membranes are an important class of sorting mechanisms used to organise proteins in living systems and with applications for biotechnology. Proteins that bind to the membrane and generate this curvature are often anisotropic and this broken symmetry yields new phenomena in their interactions. In this talk, I will discuss the many-body structures that can emerge from these elastic, quadrupole-like interactions and explore the consequences of these aggregates.