Modeling Human Brain Growth from Energy Conservation Principles
Department
Biological Sciences
Major
Physics
Research Advisor
Hou, Chen
Advisor's Department
Biological Sciences
Abstract
A general model for human brain growth over ontogeny is created, starting from principles of energy conservation. From basic energy conservation laws, an equation giving the total metabolic rate of an animal in terms of the energy required to grow and maintain cells is created, allowing energetic data to yield a growth curve for a given organisms. Successful in describing non-human animals' growth, this model may also be successful in describing human growth, given consideration of the brain's abnormally high energy cost. This is demonstrated by modeling the brain's growth using such a model, and then analyzing the nature of its impact on human whole-body growth.
Biography
Scott is a senior in Physics, focusing in Computational Physics.
Research Category
Sciences
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Document Type
Poster
Location
Upper Atrium/Hall
Presentation Date
16 Apr 2014, 9:00 am - 11:45 am
Modeling Human Brain Growth from Energy Conservation Principles
Upper Atrium/Hall
A general model for human brain growth over ontogeny is created, starting from principles of energy conservation. From basic energy conservation laws, an equation giving the total metabolic rate of an animal in terms of the energy required to grow and maintain cells is created, allowing energetic data to yield a growth curve for a given organisms. Successful in describing non-human animals' growth, this model may also be successful in describing human growth, given consideration of the brain's abnormally high energy cost. This is demonstrated by modeling the brain's growth using such a model, and then analyzing the nature of its impact on human whole-body growth.
