Research Experiences for Undergraduates
Materials Research at Carnegie Mellon University
Kris Noel Dahl
Assistant
Professor
Department
of Biomedical Engineering
Carnegie
Mellon University
“Structure, organization and
mechanical properties of subcellular materials”
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
12 PM Seminar
Location: Roberts Hall Microscopy Computer Cluster
Refreshments will be served in Roberts Hall 140.
Inside of a cell there are numerous mechanically important
structures such as the actin cytoskeleton, microtubule
network and intermediate filament systems. We study
primarily the organization of actin filaments and nuclear
intermediate filament proteins known as lamins. These
proteins provide structure, architecture and resistance
to applied forces. Interestingly, since they are in
living systems, they are constantly reorganized, their
concentrations change and the molecules that they interact
with changes as well. Although the structure, organization
and viscoelasticity obey the same rules of material
physics as artificial polymeric materials, the dynamic
nature of these cellular molecules allow for the study
of unique properties which combine the fields of engineering
and cell biology.
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