Sergio Alonso

Short CV

2019-present : Associate Professor at the Department of Physics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

2014-2019: Ramón y Cajal research associate (Tenure track).Department of Applied Physics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

2011–2014: Postdoctoral research contract. Collective research project SFB 910: Control of self-organizing nonlinear systems, funded by the German Science Foundation. Department of Mathematical Modeling and Data Analysis, German National Institut for Metrology (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt), Berlin

2007–2010: Postdoctoral research contract. Collective research project SFB 555: Complex Nonlinear processes, funded by the German Science Foundation. Department of Mathematical Modeling and Data Analysis, German National Institut for Metrology (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt), Berlin

2005-2007: Postdoctoral research contract. Marie Curie Research training network: Unifying principles in non-equilibrium pattern formation, Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz-Haber Institute of Max-Planck Society, Berlin.

2001-2004: PhD in the Advanced Physics program. PhD thesis title: Propagation of waves in excitable media under spatio-temporal forcing. Department Structure and Constituents of Matter, University of Barcelona.

1999-2001: Substitute assistant professor. Department Structure and Constituents of Matter, University of Barcelona.

1994-1998: Degree on Physics. University of Barcelona.

Research Interests

Modeling in Cell Biology

The spatial organization of the molecules participating in a particular signaling pathway may be particularly relevant for processes of cell polarization and cell locomotion. The polarization of the cell precedes the activation of the cytoskeleton, which is responsible for division or locomotion. Cell motion is produced by the push at the membrane of the actin microfilament network, forming the cytoskeleton. The attachment of the filaments at the membrane is controlled by proteins which have certain affinity for the proteins involved in the polarization process. For example the viscoelastic properties of the cytoskeleton or a difference on diffusion coefficients of biochemical species can produce these domains of high concentration.

Computational Cardiac Modeling

Arrhythmias in cardiac tissue are related to irregular electrical wave propagation in the heart. Some types of arrhythmias have been frequently related with fibrosis and ischemia of the tissue, which typically reduce the speed of propagation of the electrical wave. Cardiac tissue is typically model with the continuous cable equations where mathematical instabilities of the waves can give rise to arrhythmias. Furthermore, tissues are formed by a discrete network of cells, which, normally, are far to be homogeneous. Fibrosis are related with non-conducting regions at the cellular level which may gives rise to additional wave production and the onset of arrhythmias.

Theoretical Nonlinear Science

Spatially extended non-linear systems are typically described by partial differential equations. It permits the study of linear instabilities and different types of pattern formation in such non-linear systems. The combination of non-linear terms with different instabilities together with spatial interactions may produce novel mechanisms of pattern formation. Multi-scale problems where two instabilities appear simultaneously in a co-dimensional point at different scales can be studied and compared with experimental results in non-linear chemical systems, e.g. the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction or the catalytic CO oxidation in metal surfaces.