Publications — Nazockdast Lab

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The ability of cells to sense and communicate their shape is central to many of their functions. Much is known about how cells generate complex shapes, yet how they sense and respond to geometric cues remains poorly understood. Septins are GTP-binding proteins that localize to sites of micrometer-scale membrane curvature. Assembly of septins is a multistep and multiscale process, but it is unknown how these discrete steps lead to curvature sensing. Here, we experimentally examine the time-dependent binding of septins at different curvatures and septin bulk concentrations. These experiments unexpectedly indicated that septins’ curvature preference is not absolute but rather is sensitive to the combinations of membrane curvatures present in a reaction, suggesting that there is competition between different curvatures for septin binding. To understand the physical underpinning of this result, we developed a kinetic model that connects septins’ self-assembly and curvature-sensing propertie

Publications: see the google scholar link for the latest Self-organization of active rod suspensions on fluid membranes and thin viscous films By Mahapatra, A. , Freeman, R., Nazockdast, E. (2025). Under review in Soft Matter Many biological processes involve transport and organization of inclusions in thin fluid interfaces. A key aspect of these assemblies is the active dissipative stresses applied from the inclusions to the fluid interface, resulting in long-range active interfacial flows. We study the effect of these activeflows on the self-organization of rod-like inclusions in the interfa

Publications — Nazockdast Lab

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