Depletant induced attractions in red blood cells

Red blood cells suspended in plasma are able to aggregate into linearly stacked rouleau. The aggregations can form complex clusters and branching networks which cause complications in various pathological cases. The self assembly and biophysics behind the aggregation of red blood cells into rouleau remains underexplored. This thesis employs coarse-grained molecular simulations to model erythrocytes in a disperse limit subject to short range implicit depletion forces. This work demonstrates that the depletant interaction is sufficient to account for sudden transitions into aggregate states. Furthermore, this work demonstrates that the specific volume fraction of depletants is directly linked to the morphologies of the aggregate states observed.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MSc)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Materials Science

Grantor

University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Nehring, Austin

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• de Haan, Hendrick

• Bio-physics
• Simulation
• Coarse-grained
• Molecular dynamics
• Rouleau

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10155/981

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ontariotechu.scholaris.ca:10155/981