{"id":{"repo_id":"utc","oai_identifier":"oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1932"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/utc/oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1932","repository":{"repo_id":"utc","name":"University of Tennessee - Chattanooga","base_url":"https://scholar.utc.edu/do/oai/"},"display":{"title":"Topological analysis of microtubules during cell division","abstract":"Cells are complex biological systems, composed by many biopolymers, which undergo morphological changes during cell division. Microtubules are biopolymers essential for functions in the cell. Understanding the role of microtubules in cell division requires characterizing their conformations during this process. In this thesis, we model the microtubules by mathematical curves in space and use methods from Knot Theory to characterize the single and multi-chain topological complexity of such systems. We create computational methods for analyzing the topology of microtubules obtained through large electron tomography data. Our results show that the geometry/topology and entanglement of microtubules changes throughout cell division and it depends on the length of the microtubules and their locations. We also detect change in twisting of the microtubules which is associated to the motion of the chromosomes. Using Braid theory, we find that there is no correlation between multi-chain entanglement and oriented random walks in confinement","abstract_html":"Cells are complex biological systems, composed by many biopolymers, which undergo morphological changes during cell division. Microtubules are biopolymers essential for functions in the cell. Understanding the role of microtubules in cell division requires characterizing their conformations during this process. In this thesis, we model the microtubules by mathematical curves in space and use methods from Knot Theory to characterize the single and multi-chain topological complexity of such systems. We create computational methods for analyzing the topology of microtubules obtained through large electron tomography data. Our results show that the geometry/topology and entanglement of microtubules changes throughout cell division and it depends on the length of the microtubules and their locations. We also detect change in twisting of the microtubules which is associated to the motion of the chromosomes. Using Braid theory, we find that there is no correlation between multi-chain entanglement and oriented random walks in confinement","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Mandya Nagaiah, Hemanth Kumar"],"institution":"University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Panagiotou, Eleni","Gao, Lani; Barbee, Meredith H.","College of Arts and Sciences"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":null,"date_issued":"","date_published":null,"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:47:06Z","subjects":["Cell division","Microtubules--Mathematical models","Topology"],"languages":["English","eng"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/756","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Panagiotou, Eleni","Gao, Lani; Barbee, Meredith H.","College of Arts and Sciences"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Mandya Nagaiah, Hemanth Kumar"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2022-05-01T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","Chattanooga (Tenn.)"]},{"key":"dc:relation","label":"Dc Relation","values":["Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Masters theses","Text"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Cell division","Microtubules--Mathematical models","Topology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/756"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Dept. of Mathematics","M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Cells are complex biological systems, composed by many biopolymers, which undergo morphological changes during cell division. Microtubules are biopolymers essential for functions in the cell. Understanding the role of microtubules in cell division requires characterizing their conformations during this process. In this thesis, we model the microtubules by mathematical curves in space and use methods from Knot Theory to characterize the single and multi-chain topological complexity of such systems. We create computational methods for analyzing the topology of microtubules obtained through large electron tomography data. Our results show that the geometry/topology and entanglement of microtubules changes throughout cell division and it depends on the length of the microtubules and their locations. We also detect change in twisting of the microtubules which is associated to the motion of the chromosomes. Using Braid theory, we find that there is no correlation between multi-chain entanglement and oriented random walks in confinement"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Topological analysis of microtubules during cell division"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Panagiotou, Eleni","Gao, Lani; Barbee, Meredith H.","College of Arts and Sciences"],"dc:creator":["Mandya Nagaiah, Hemanth Kumar"],"dc:date":["2022-05-01T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description":["Dept. of Mathematics","M. S.; A thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Science."],"dc:description.abstract":["Cells are complex biological systems, composed by many biopolymers, which undergo morphological changes during cell division. Microtubules are biopolymers essential for functions in the cell. Understanding the role of microtubules in cell division requires characterizing their conformations during this process. In this thesis, we model the microtubules by mathematical curves in space and use methods from Knot Theory to characterize the single and multi-chain topological complexity of such systems. We create computational methods for analyzing the topology of microtubules obtained through large electron tomography data. Our results show that the geometry/topology and entanglement of microtubules changes throughout cell division and it depends on the length of the microtubules and their locations. We also detect change in twisting of the microtubules which is associated to the motion of the chromosomes. Using Braid theory, we find that there is no correlation between multi-chain entanglement and oriented random walks in confinement"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/756"],"dc:language":["English","eng"],"dc:publisher":["University of Tennessee at Chattanooga","Chattanooga (Tenn.)"],"dc:relation":["Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations"],"dc:rights":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["Cell division","Microtubules--Mathematical models","Topology"],"dc:title":["Topological analysis of microtubules during cell division"],"dc:type":["Masters theses","Text"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:47:06Z"}