Research overview





This page provides transparencies from two lectures given at the Odense summer school on membrane physics in 2003. The documents are in the form of PDF files.

Sec. A - Nature's Building Code

Overview
Oldest cells
Design criteria
Rods and ropes
Biofilaments
Curtain wall construction
Lipid membranes
Membrane stability
Efficiency of construction
Summary of mechanics
Membrane adhesion
Entropic repulsion
Wrinkles

Sec. B - Inventory of designs

Introduction
Membrane bending energy
Spheres
Ellipsoids
Tubes
Coils
Networks
Growth and division
Entropy-driven division
Curvature-driven lysis

Sec. C - Evolution

Overview
Thermophiles
High temperture membranes
Energetics of cell shape
Area distributions
3.47 Ga cells
2.1 Ga cells - small cells
2.1 Ga cells - mixed colonies
2.1 Ga cells - prolates
2.1 Ga cells - dyads
Boundary thickness
Simple model for division
Area distributions
Reduced volumes
2.1 Ga cells - tubes
DNA storage

Sec. D - Extra-terrestrial cells

Introduction
Available compounds
Size vs time
Assessment index
Summary