Level: BSc, MSci, MSc
Title: Fluctuations in ion channels
Supervisor:

Dr Rosemary Harris
Research Area: Dynamical Systems and Statistical Physics
Description:

The project is to study some simple mathematical models of ion channels, including those based on Markov chains. For a suitably inclined student it may also be possible to build on previous simulation work (in C++) and make comparisons with experimental results from the group of Mark Baker (QMUL Centre for Neuroscience and Trauma).
Further Reading:
  • Stochastic Methods in Neuroscience. Ed. by C. Laing and G.J. Lord. Oxford Univ. Press, 2009.
  • G.L. Millhauser, E.E. Salpeter, and R.E. Oswald, Diffusion models of ion-channel gating and the origin of power-law distributions from single-channel recording, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85 (1998) 1503–1507.
  • C.A. Condat and J. Jäckle, Closed-time distribution of ionic channels. Analytical solution to a one-dimensional defect-diffusion model, Biophysical Journal 55 (1989), 915–925.
  • I. Goychuk and P. Hänngi, Ion channel gating: A first-passage time analysis of the Kramers type, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99 (2002), 3552–3556.
Key Modules:

MTH6141 Random Processes

MTH6934/MTH734U/MTHM012/MTH712P Topics in Probability and Stochastic Processes
Other Information:
Current Availability: Yes