CCB Brown Bag Seminar

1st Speaker: Tatyana Gavrilchenko, Ph.D., Flatiron Research Fellow, Developmental Dynamics

Topic: Fluctuating asymmetries in the wing venation of odonates

The intricate wing structure of dragonflies has fascinated naturalists for centuries. The wings and flight mechanism of these ancient creatures have no doubt contributed to their domination in the insect kingdom. Veins in the wing network can be split into two categories: long primary veins, which are constant across a family of dragonflies, and secondary veins forming a tiling between primary veins, which are unique to an individual, like a fingerprint. We explore the asymmetry between the left and right wings of an individual dragonfly and discuss how quantifying fluctuating asymmetry can provide information about modularity during development.

2nd Speaker: Brato Chakrabarti, Ph.D, Flatiron Research Fellow, Biophysical Modeling

Title: Collective dynamics in a bed of cilia

Cilia and flagella are thin hairlike cellular projections that play a variety of crucial roles at the cellular scale. Cilia, typically found in dense arrays covering cell surfaces beat in a coordinated fashion, generating what is known as metachronal waves that help in long range fluid transport and locomotion. However, the mechanisms through which this active system organizes itself remain unknown. In this talk, I will talk about how hydrodynamics alone can account for the generation of these waves. I will focus on a toy model that captures salient features of the emergent dynamics and highlights subtle role of boundary conditions.