Diana Khoromskaia

Note: This webpage will no longer be maintained, as I finished my PhD in June 2017 and moved on to a new research position.

I am a PhD student at the Centre for Complexity Science and the Department of Physics, working with . My research interests focus around the development of physical models to understand non-equilibrium properties of living systems. With the development of the field of active matter, it has proven insightful to describe suspensions of motile entities, such as bacteria suspensions or cytoskeletal filaments together with their molecular motors, as complex fluids with additional active stresses and liquid-crystalline alignment.

In my PhD I am developing mathematical models to understand the behaviour of such active fluids under geometrical confinement, e.g. when an active fluid forms a droplet on a substrate or coats a spherical vesicle membrane in a thin layer. In particular, I am interested in the effect of topological defects in the alignment on the large-scale flows in such geometries. For instance, defects are found to drive macroscopic motility through the flows they create. Studying simple models analytically and in simulations helps to develop a basic understanding of how curvature and topological constraints influence the dynamics of active fluids and provides a first step towards design and control of biomimetic materials in the future.

Topics of Interest:

active fluids
soft and biological matter
physics of cell motility
stochastic dynamics

Publications:

D. Khoromskaia and G. P. Alexander, , New J. Phys. 19 103043 (2017).
[].
D. Khoromskaia and G. P. Alexander, , Phys. Rev. E 92, 062311 (2015).[]
D. Khoromskaia, R. J. Harris, S. Grosskinsky, , J. Stat. Mech. (2014) P12013. []

Education:

Oct. 2013 - present: PhD in Physics and Complexity Science, University of 糖心TV
(supervised by and )
2012-2013: M.Sc. in Complexity Science, University of 糖心TV
2010-2012: M.Sc. in Physics (University of Heidelberg, Germany), Thesis: "Multi-layer model of sliding friction mediated by molecular bonds" (supervised by )
2007-2010: B.Sc. in Physics (University of Heidelberg, Germany)
2006-2007: studies of Mathematics and Physics (University of Leipzig, Germany)
2006: Abitur (Wilhelm-Ostwald-Gymnasium, Leipzig, Germany)

E-mail:

D.Khoromskaia@warwick.ac.uk

Web:

You can find me on

and on

Office:

D2.17 Center for Complexity Science Zeeman Building
University of 糖心TV
CV4 7AL Coventry