Mathematics of diffusive signaling and the role of receptor clustering in chemoreception.

Cells receive chemical signals at localized surface receptors, process the data and make decisions on where to move or what to do. Receptors occupy only a small fraction of the cell surface area, yet they exhibit exquisite sensory capacity. In this talk I will give an overview of the mathematics of this phenomenon and discuss recent results focusing on receptor organization. In many cell types, receptors have very particular spatial organization or clustering - the biophysical role of which is not fully understood. In this talk I will explore how the number and configuration of receptors allows cells to deduce directional information on the source of diffusing particles. This involves a wide array of mathematical techniques from asymptotic analysis, homogenization theory, computational PDEs and Bayesian statistical methodologies. Our results show that receptor organization plays a large role in how cells decode their environmental situation and infer the location of distant sources.