Troy Shinbrot
Associate Professor

Computational bioengineering, biomedical imaging

Research in our lab deals with mechanisms by which nonlinear and noisy systems spontaneously produce ordered and patterned states. Examples include: the formation of regular functional neuronal networks from irregular axonal trees; the generation of precise biological rhythms from noisy neuronal firing patterns; the application of intrinsic nonlinearities to control chaotic systems; and the use of chaos to maximize powder and fluid mixing rates.

Selected Publications

Shinbrot T, Herrmann HJ. (2008) Granular matter: static in motion. Nature. 451(7180):773-4.
Caicedo-Carvajal CE, Shinbrot T. (2008) In silico zebrafish pattern formation. Dev Biol. 315(2):397-403.

Mehrotra A, Muzzio FJ, Shinbrot T. (2007) Spontaneous separation of charged grains. Phys Rev Lett. 99(5):058001.

Shinbrot T. (2006) Simulated morphogenesis of developmental folds due to proliferative pressure. J Theor Biol. 242(3):764-73.

Shinbrot T, Lamarche K, Glasser BJ. (2006) Triboelectrification and razorbacks: geophysical patterns produced in dry grains. Phys Rev Lett. 96(17):178002.

Shinbrot T. (2005) Fluid dynamics: drat such custard! Nature. 438(7070):922-3.

Maskery S, Shinbrot T. (2005) Deterministic and stochastic elements of axonal guidance. Annu Rev Biomed Eng. 7:187-221. Review.

Arratia PE, Shinbrot T, Alvarez MM, Muzzio FJ. (2005) Mixing of non-Newtonian fluids in steadily forced systems. Phys Rev Lett. 94(8):084501.

Conway SL, Shinbrot T, Glasser BJ. (2004) A Taylor vortex analogy in granular flows. Nature. 431(7007):433-7.

Duong NH, Hosoi AE, Shinbrot T. (2004) Periodic knolls and valleys: coexistence of solid and liquid states in granular suspensions. Phys Rev Lett. 92(22):224502.

Maskery SM, Buettner HM, Shinbrot T. (2004) Growth cone pathfinding: a competition between deterministic and stochastic events. BMC Neurosci. 5:22.

Shinbrot T, Duong NH, Kwan L, Alvarez MM. (2004) Dry granular flows can generate surface features resembling those seen in Martian gullies. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 101(23):8542-6.

Shinbrot T. (2004) Granular materials: the Brazil nut effect--in reverse. Nature. 429(6990):352-3.

Alexander A, Shinbrot T, Johnson B, Muzzio FJ. (2004) V-blender segregation patterns for free-flowing materials: effects of blender capacity and fill level. Int J Pharm. 269(1):19-28.

Conway SL, Goldfarb DJ, Shinbrot T, Glasser BJ. (2003) Free surface waves in wall-bounded granular flows. Phys Rev Lett. 90(7):074301.

Goldfarb DJ, Glasser BJ, Shinbrot T. (2002) Shear instabilities in granular flows. Nature. 415(6869):302-5.