07/18/2024
By Kwok Fan Chow
The Kennedy College of Science, Department of Chemistry, invites you to attend a Ph.D. Dissertation defense by Evgenii Kliuchnikov entitled “Development of Stochastic Reaction-Diffusion-Dynamics Model and its Application to Cell Mitosis and Fibrin Clot Contraction.”
Degree: Doctoral
Location: Olney, Room 518
Date: Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024
Time: 11 a.m.
Committee:
- Chair Prof. Valeri Barsegov, Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Prof. Kenneth A. Marx, Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Prof. James E. Whitten, Department of Chemistry, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- Prof. Viktor A. Podolskiy, Department of Physics and Applied Physics, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Abstract:
The main goal of this work is to investigate the kinetic and mechanical properties of several large biological systems. Specifically, it focuses on developing a kinetic model of microtubules—long filaments that play a critical role in chromosome separation during cell division, maintaining cell shape, and facilitating intracellular transport. The kinetic model explains and accounts for dynamic instability and four kinetic phases (growth, shortening, catastrophe, and rescue). Another focus of the thesis involves comprehensive cell modeling, specifically delving into mechanisms occurring during chromosome segregation in prometaphase and anaphase via microtubules forming the mitotic spindle, including error correction, the role of motors like chromokinesin, and the separation of sister chromatids. The final section addresses the modeling of platelet-fibrin matrix clot contraction and explores the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of this process. This type of modeling is essential for understanding various biological mechanisms that are often too complex to be studied easily by experimentation.
All interested students and faculty members are invited to attend.