Dr. Christina Hamlet's talk

Title: An integrative model of lamprey locomotion using the immersed boundary method

Dr. Christina Hamlet (Tulane University)

Abstract: Lampreys are an eel-like fish with relatively simple swimming kinematics and neurons that are relatively large and few in number (compared to other vertebrates.) Given these characteristics, lampreys are a model organism for locomotion and neurophysiology studies. Here I present an interdisciplinary effort to develop an integrative, multiscale computational model of a lamprey coupling neural activation, calcium dynamics, muscle kinematics, passive body properties, and fluid-structure interactions resulting in an emergent swimming mode comparable to the mode of the natural organism. After presenting the construction of the model, the effects of nonlinear parameters on muscle force development and implications for swimming speed and metabolic cost will be explored.