The Rheology Research Center Lecture/The Mohs Lecture by Placon

The mechanics of lipid bilayers is discussed in the context of the theory of elastic shells with fluid symmetry. New contact conditions are developed for lipid membranes interacting with curved substrates along their edges. These include the anchoring conditions familiar from liquid-crystal theory and accommodate non-uniform membranes and non-uniform adhesion between a bulk fluid or membrane and a rigid substrate. The theory is illustrated through explicit solutions and numerical simulations.