First-passage time analysis of particle transport in the cytoplasm
Name
dhaliwal-vira-smme-meche-2021-thesis.pdf
Description
Thesis PDF
Size
5.31 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
0106784bbb58f0fad961cde9d94f18c0
Author(s)
Dhaliwal, Vira
Advisor(s)
Guo, Ming
Date Issued
September 2021
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Cell mechanics are often probed by tracking fluorescent tracer particles embedded in the cytoplasm. The analysis of such experiments typically involves computation of the mean-square displacement of the particles, and thus ignores the variation in how individual particles are transported by activity within the cell. Here, first-passage time (FPT) analysis is presented as an alternate measure that can better represent the diversity of particle behavior. FPT analysis reveals that the diffusive-like motion of tracer particles can not be accurately modeled as random-walk diffusion due to inhomogeneity of particle transport rates. The technique is then used to investigate the effect of vimentin intermediate filaments (VIFs) on cytoplasmic transport. We find that VIFs significantly inhibit the displacement of objects in the cytoplasm.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
Copyright MIT
Persistent DSpace Link
