Laura Miller, University of North Carolina
Fluid dynamics and mechanosensing during heart development
Abstract: In the first part of this talk, I will discuss the transition to vortical flow that occurs in the developing heart tube between
3 and 4 weeks post fertilization. This transition is significant because it affects the spatial and temporal distribution of
shear stress along the cardiac wall. Recent in vivo studies in zebrafish suggest that shear stress is critical to the proper
development of the heart chambers and the valves. Numerical simulations using the immersed boundary method were performed to
determine how the transition to vortical flow depends on geometry and Reynolds number. The spatial distributions of shear and
pressure for each simulation will also be shown.
In the second part of the talk, I will discuss how cardiac endothelial cells might sense shear stress through the endothelial
surface layer. Numerical simulations and physical models will be used to investigate how spatial distributions of shear depend
on heterogeneities in the surface layer itself.
Address: Department of Mathematics,
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Rm 305A, CB 3250 Phillips Hall.
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3250.
Webpage (Miller Lab for Integrative Biophysics)