Homepage of Martin Michael Müller

Hello!

Welcome to the homepage of Martin M. Müller! I am working as a Maître de conférences in the research group biophysstat at the Paul-Verlaine University in Metz and want to introduce my scientific research on this page.

I am interested in geometry and its applications in nature. One of my research topics concerns biological membranes like those you can find in the wall of a human cell. Apart from its obvious role regulating which substances are allowed to pass into the cell and which are not, a membrane fulfills a variety of other biological tasks such as protein sorting or signal transduction.

Geometry of surface adhesion

Membranes are highly inhomogeneous. They consist of a fluid lipid bilayer in which many other molecules such as proteins are inserted. This very complex system can be simplified by using mathematical-physical methods to gain knowledge about general features.

These methods are based on differential geometry, an area of mathematics concerning the differential calculus (i. e. integration and derivation) of general geometries (like for example a sphere). The membrane is modeled as a 2-dimensional surface that can be characterized by means of its curvatures.

In my diploma thesis I examined what happens when, for example, several viruses adhere to a membrane. My PhD thesis discusses related questions. At the moment I study how growth processes can be modelled from a geometrical point of view. This is explained further on the Research page. On the other pages you can find a short CV as well as my Publications and Links.

Have fun!