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Session Q02 - Mechanisms for Pattern Formation.
Invited session, Friday morning, March 24, 8:00
Ballroom A2, San Jose Convention Center
While considerable progress has been achieved during the last decade in understanding pattern formation in physical and chemical systems, the understanding of patterns in biological systems are just beginning to emerge. In a biological membrane the electrical current flows through protein molecules embedded in the insulating lipid bilayer (ion channels). If the adjacent electrolyte has a high resistence -e.g. in the case of the extracellular cleft of a synapse - the current gives rise to an electrical field along the membrane. In that field mobile charged protein molecules may be moved by electrophoresis. Selforganization of patterns - an inhomogeneous distribution of mobile charged ion channels - may arise by an appropriate choice of signs of the electrophoretic charge and the concentration gradient of ions across the membrane. Above threshold transient periodic patterns, followed by clustering, or spatially periodic patterns as well as spatio-temporal patterns may occur, depending on the properties of the respective ion-channels and the membrane. An overview of recent results achieved in collaboration with P. Fromherz as well as the experimental progress is given.