Particle Tracking Analysis: Remarkable progress in advanced microscopy has yielded unprecedented access to a path-wise observation of fundamental stochastic processes such as the motion of invasive particulates in viscoelastic fluids; the kinetics of strands of DNA and semi-flexible polymers; and the mechanics of intracellular transport. In each case, the departure from classical Brownian motion is unmistakeable and essential. The central difficulty of using particle tracking is that while the available videos only last for a few seconds, the biological phenomenon of interest take place over hours or even days. In joint work with Natesh Pillai, Martin Lysy, Greg Forest, David Hill and Sam Lai, we are investigating mathematical, statistical and experimental techniques that will allow us to select between competing mathematical models and thereby make faithful predictions of in vivo dynamics.
Fluid–particle dynamics for passive tracers advected by a thermally fluctuating viscoelastic medium. ( pdf )
Christel Hohenegger and Scott A McKinley. Journal of Computational Physics. Vol 340 pgs 688-711. (2017)
— Reconstructing Complex Fluid Properties from the Behavior of Fluctuating Immersed Particles. ( pdf )
Christel Hohenegger and Scott A McKinley. Submitted and in review (2017).
Model comparison for single particle tracking in biological fluids. ( pdf )
Martin Lysy, Natesh S. Pillai, David B. Hill, M. Gregory Forest, John Mellnik, Paula Vasquez and Scott A McKinley. Journal of the American Statistical Association. Vol 111 No 56 (2016)
Maximum Likelihood Estimation for Single Particle, Passive Microrheology Data with Drift ( pdf )
John Mellnik, Martin Lysy, Paula Vasquez, Natesh Pillai, David B Hill, Jeremy A Cribb, Scott A McKinley and M Gregory Forest. Journal of Rheology. 60, 379 (2016)
Micro-heterogeneity metrics for diffusion in soft matter
John Mellnik, Paula A Vazquez, Scott A McKinley, Jacob Witten, David B Hill, M Gregory Forest. Soft Matter. 10 (39) 7781-7796. (2014)
A Biophysical Basis for Mucus Solids Concentration as a Candidate Biomarker for Airways Disease. (pdf)
David B. Hill, Paula A. Vasquez, John Mellnik, Scott A McKinley, Aaron Vose, Frank Mu, Ashley G Henderson, Scott H. Donaldson, Neil E. Alexis, Richard C. Boucher and M. Gregory Forest. PLoS ONE, 9(2), e87681. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0087681 (2014).
Geometric ergodicity of a bead-spring system forced by a stochastic Stokes fluid. (pdf)
Jonathan C Mattingly, Scott A McKinley, Natesh S Pillai. Stochastic Processes and Their Applications 122 (12) 3953-3979, 2012.
Statistical Challenges in Microrheology. (pdf)
Gustavo Didier, Scott A McKinley, David B Hill, John Fricks. Journal of Time Series Analysis (33) 5 724-743, 2012.
Scott A McKinley 