Mithun Kumar Mitra


Postdoctoral Associate
Polymer Science and Engineering
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003
USA


Ph. : +1-413-577-2242
mithun .at. polysci.umass.edu





For my Ph.D. thesis, I have been looking at some aspects of two-dimensional vesicles. A complete list of my publications can be found here.

My full academic C.V. can be found here (PDF format).

Phase transition in two dimensional vesicles

Biological vesicles exhibit a variety of shapes as a function of the osmotic pressure difference and the membrane semiflexibility. There occurs distinct classes of shapes separated by continuous phase transition. This problem has been the topic of much study over the past couple of decades. My research for my Ph.D. thesis has been concentrated on understanding the full features of the two-dimensional vesicle problem. We have investigated both self-intersecting and self-avoiding classes of vesicles through a variety of analytic and numerical problems.

Microscopic model for microtubules

For my Masters thesis, we proposed and studied a structural model for microtubules. Microtubules, which are cylindrical structures found inside the cell, provide structural support and help in transport and cell division. They exhibit a phenomenon called dynamical instability in which the length of the microtubule oscillates rapidly through polymerization and depolymerization of the constituent tubulin dimers. We attempt to understand this phenomenon through a structural cap model.




Publications    
     
1. Mithun K. Mitra, Gautam I. Menon, R. Rajesh  
  ``Thermodynamic Behaviour of Two-dimensional Vesicles Revisited.''  
  (Manuscript in preparation).  
     
2. Mithun K. Mitra, Gautam I. Menon, R. Rajesh  
  ``Asymptotic Behavior of Inflated Lattice Polygons.''  
  [arXiv:0710.1509] (Submitted to J. Stat. Phys.).  
     
3. Mithun K. Mitra, Gautam I. Menon, R. Rajesh  
  ``Phase Transitions in Pressurised Semiflexible Polymer Rings.''  
  [arXiv:0708.3318] (Submitted to Phys. Rev. E).  
     
     


References

1. Dr. Gautam I. Menon
  Professor,
  The Institute of Mathematical Sciences,
  C.I.T. Campus, Tharamani
  Chennai - 600113, India.
  Ph. : +91-44-22543266
  Fax : +91-44-22541586
  menon@imsc.res.in
2. Dr. Rajesh Ravindran
  Fellow,
  The Institute of Mathematical Sciences,
  C.I.T. Campus, Tharamani
  Chennai - 600113, India.
  Ph. : +91-44-22543255
  Fax : +91-44-22541586
  rrajesh@imsc.res.in
3. Dr. P. B. Sunil Kumar
  Professor,
  Department of Physics,
  Indian Institute of Technology Madras
  Chennai - 600036, India.
  Ph. : +91-44-22578693
  sunil@iitm.ac.in
4. Dr. Sitabhra Sinha
  Reader,
  The Institute of Mathematical Sciences,
  C.I.T. Campus, Tharamani
  Chennai - 600113, India.
  Ph. : +91-44-22543301
  Fax : +91-44-22541586
  sitabhra@imsc.res.in