Bhargav Karamched

Size homeostasis in neurons poses a plethora of challenges rooted in the fact that neurons take on incredibly complex structures and exhibit a large cell-cell size variability. To produce proteins necessary for physiologic requirements and distribute them throughout their body, neurons need to have an intrinsic mechanism by which they sense their own size. The underlying mechanism is not yet well-understood. My lab uses a theoretical approach to address such problems. By developing stochastic models of such biological processes and invoking approximations to understand our models analytically, we seek to provide theoretical frameworks for various processes and unveil mechanisms underlying them. Currently, we are developing stochastic models to understand the development of polarity in nascent neurons and transport processes involving autophagosomes in neurons. We typically work in close collaboration with experimentalists with the hope that they inspire new mathematics from us, and we quantitate the biophysical mechanism of interest in their experiments.