Talks

Bacterial chromosome segregation, ensuring equal distribution of replicated DNA, is crucial for cell division. During fast growth, overlapping cycles of DNA replication and segregation require efficient segregation of the origin of replication (Ori), which is known to be orchestrated by the protein families SMC and ParAB. I will discuss our approach using data-driven physical modeling to study the roles of these proteins in Ori segregation. Developing a polymer model of the Bacillus subtilis genome based on Hi-C data, we analyzed chromosome structures in wild-type cells and mutants lacking SMC or ParAB. Wild-type chromosomes showed clear Ori segregation, while the mutants were segregation deficient. The model suggests the dual role of ParB proteins, loading SMCs near the Ori and interacting with ParA enriched at the cell poles, is crucial for Ori segregation. ParB-loaded SMCs compact individual Ori and introduce an effective inter-sister repulsion. While both the ParB-bound Ori tracks ...

I will present our recent work on the role of DNA and RNA polymerases in driving the spatio-temporal dynamics of chromosome in higher eucaryotes using biophysical modeling and analysis of experimental data.

Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians are a compulsory aspect of the linear dynamical systems that model many physical phenomena, such as those in electrical circuits, open quantum systems, and optics. Additionally, a representation of the quantum theory of closed systems with non-Hermitian observables possessing unbroken PT-symmetry is well-defined.   In this talk, I will second-quantize non-Hermitian quantum theories with paraFermionic statistics. To do this, I will introduce an efficient method to find conserved quantities when the Hamiltonian is free or translationally invariant. Using a specific non-Hermitian perturbation of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger (SSH ) model, a prototypical topological insulator, I examine how PT-symmetry breaking occurs at the topological phase transition. Finally, I show that although finite-dimensional PT-symmetric quantum theories generalize the tensor product model of locality, they never permit Bell inequality violations beyond what is possible in the Hermitian quantum tensor product model.