"Microhydrodynamics of vesicles"
Lipid bilayer membranes that envelop cells and cellular organelles have unique mechanical properties crucial for biological function. Membranes constantly deform due to stresses naturally existing in the cellular environments or due to externally applied flow or electric fields. The past several years have marked an explosion in the interest in the genuine non-equilibrium states of membranes. However, progress in the theoretical analysis and numerical simulations has been slow because modeling membranes is a challenging task: membranes exhibit highly nonlinear behavior and involve multiple length scales. In this talk, I will present our recent theoretical work on the dynamics of closed lipid membranes (vesicles) in flow and electric fields. I will discuss (1) the tumbling and tank-treading behavior of vesicles in shear flow (2) deformation and membrane poration in electric fields.