Date: April 12, 2002 (Wednesday)
Time: 4:30 pm
Location: Hayes-Healy Hall, 127

Speaker: Hans G. Othmer

From: Department of Mathematics, University of Minnesota

Host: Mark S. Alber (Mathematics)

Title: Macroscopic Equations for Population Dynamics from Microscopic Models of Individual Behavior

Abstract:
Chemotaxis in the bacterium E. coli is widely-studied because of its accessibility and because it incorporates processes that are important in the response of numerous sensory systems to stimuli: signal detection and transduction, excitation, adaptation, and a change in behavior. Quantitative data on the change in behavior is available for this system, and the major biochemical steps in the signal transduction/processing pathway have been identified. In this lecture we will discuss a mathematical model of single cells that can reproduce many of the major features of signal transduction, adaptation and aggregation, and which incorporates the interaction of the chemotactic proteins with the flagellar motor. We shall then address the problem of how to obtain macroscopic chemotaxis equations for population-level behavior from a forward Kolmogorov equation that incorporates certain features of the microscopic model.