CCB Seminar

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Zoom Talk

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H.323 room system: 162.255.36.11 (US East)
Meeting ID: 313 997 163

Presenter: Robert Eisenberg, Ph.D.
Bard Endowed Professor and Chairmanemeritus
Dept of Molecular Biophysics & Physiology, Rush University.
Adjunct Professor, Dept of Applied Mathematics, Illinois Institute of technology

Topic: From Maxwell to Mitochondria

Applying the Maxwell equations to mitochondria seems a hopeless task: there is so much complexity. But computers and their chips are nearly as complicated. Design of circuits that make our computers and phones is done every day by uncounted numbers of engineers and scientists, thanks to Kirchhoff’s Current Law, which is a conservation law in one dimensional(branched) systems of devices. Kirchhoff’s current law conserves flux, not current in its usual derivation. But Maxwell’s equations do not conserve flux; they conserve total current. Total current equals flux plus the‘ethereal’ displacement current. Maxwell’s definition of current allows simple circuit laws to design extraordinarily complex systems made of semiconductor devices, that function reliably over a wide range of conditions and times sec. Channels, transporters, and enzymes are devices because they localize current flow. Channels, transporters, and enzymes can be analyzed by the methods of circuit theory, for that reason.

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