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SUMMARY:First-passage time to clear the way for receptor-ligand binding in
  a crowded environment - Jay Newby ()
DTSTART:20160405T104500Z
DTEND:20160405T113000Z
UID:TALK65303@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:INI IT
DESCRIPTION:I will present theoretical support for a hypothesis about cell
 -cell contact\, which plays a critical role in immune function. A fundamen
 tal question for all cell-cell interfaces is how receptors and ligands com
 e into contact\, despite being separated by large molecules\, the extracel
 lular fluid\, and other structures in the glycocalyx. The cell membrane is
  a crowded domain filled with large glycoproteins that impair interactions
  between smaller pairs of molecules\, such as the T cell receptor and its 
 ligand\, which is a key step in immunological information processing and d
 ecision-making. A first passage time problem allows us to gauge whether a 
 reaction zone can be cleared of large molecules through passive diffusion 
 on biologically relevant timescales. I combine numerical and asymptotic ap
 proaches to obtain a complete picture of the first passage time\, which sh
 ows that passive diffusion alone would take far too long to account for ex
 perimentally observed cell-cell contact format ion times. The result sugge
 sts that cell-cell contact formation may involve previously unknown active
  mechanical processes.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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