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Multiscale Modeling in Bio-Mechanical Systems

Ying Li, University of Connecticut

Lucy Zhang, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Mechanics plays a very significant role in biological systems, particularly in biological processes and pathologies. For instance, cells actively sense their environment and respond to or send physical signals from applied forces, geometry, elasticity, and chemistry of the extracellular matrix. Multiple spatial and temporal scales are typically involved due to the hierarchical structure and nested process in these complex biological systems. All these issues bring unprecedented challenges towards the fundamental understanding of molecular, cellular, and tissue mechanics and also create great opportunities to experimental, theoretical and computational researchers alike. These challenges call for close collaborations among scientists from different fields including engineers, physicists, biologists, chemists, and material scientists. The overarching goal of this symposium is to bring together researchers with a variety of backgrounds to exchange ideas, to team up for addressing grand challenge problems, or to initiate new areas of research, with advancement in different computational approaches. The major topics under this symposium include, but are not limited to:
Fluid-structure interactions in biological systems
Multiscale modeling of biological systems
Cell adhesion, motility and mechanotransduction
Mechanisms of mechanosensing and mechanotransduction
Novel multiscale modeling techniques for bio-mechanical systems