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Sam Walcott “Inasmuch ...
as biological phenomena are very closely related to physical phenomena, we
shall ... whenever possible, look for physical interpretations, in line with
the desire to unify all natural sciences.” |
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(Photo taken by Mac Brown, see more of his work) |
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Research |
Mathematical and physical biology. Most of my research is focused on providing a quantitatively and physically based understanding of biological systems. So, for example, how do a molecule’s mechanical properties influence its chemical behavior in a cell? Can we use the growing number of single molecule measurements to build theoretical models that make physiologically relevant predictions?
Muscle mechanics. Muscle is a very complex biological system that we happen to know a lot about. Having done single molecule experiments, I am interested in understanding how these molecular measurements translate to whole muscle contraction. Therefore, part of my research focuses on creating simple physical and mathematical models of muscle proteins at the molecular level, and then using these molecular-level models to generate cellular-level (and hopefully larger-scale) models.
Biomechanics. Why do people choose to move the way we do? Why, for example, do we wind up when we throw? I build very simple models of these systems to predict coordination through optimization of some cost function (e.g. metabolic cost). Sometimes, even these simple models can provide counterintuitive results that can help us understand human movement.
Friction mechanics. Micro-mechanics of friction.
Multi-body dynamics. Mechanics miscellany.
Look here
for a summary of a talk I gave on throwing mechanics that appeared in Science.
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Selected
Publications |
To read my most recent postdoctoral
journal entry in Nature, please click here.
For a complete list
of publications and pre-prints, please look here.
The load dependence of rate
constants.
Sam Walcott. Journal of Chemical Physics. Volume 128, pages 215101, 2008.
PDF.
Enzyme kinetics of muscle glycogen
phosphorylase b.
Sam Walcott & Steve Lehman. Biochemistry.
Volume 46, pages 11957-68, 2007. PDF.
Modeling residual force enhancement with generic cross-bridge models.
Sam Walcott & Walter Herzog. Mathematical Biosciences. Volume 216, pages 172-86, 2008. PDF.
Ph.D. Thesis Understanding movement: a molecular
approach.
Sam Walcott, Cornell University, 2006. (Available upon request).
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Education
and Employment |
For a full CV,
please look here.
B.A. Cornell University (General Biology),
2001.
Ph.D. Cornell University (Theoretical and
Applied Mechanics, Andy Ruina
advisor), 2006.
Post Doc. University of Vermont (Molecular
Physiology and Biophysics, Dave
Warshaw supervisor), 2006 – 2008.
Post Doc. Johns Hopkins University (Mechanical Engineering, Sean Sun supervisor), 2008 – present.
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Past and Current
Collaborators (Besides Employers Listed Above) |
Steve
Lehman (Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley)
Walter Herzog (Kinesiology, U.
Calgary)
Manoj Srinivasan (Mechanical
Engineering, Princeton)
Neil Kad (Biology, Essex)
Ned Debold
(Kinesiology, UMass Amherst)
Madhusudhan Venkadesan (Applied
Math, Harvard)