Biological Physics
During eukaryotic cell division, a microtubule-based structure called the spindle exerts forces on chromosomes, thereby organizing and segregating them Extensive work demonstrates that the forces acting parallel to the spindle axis,…
The organization of interphase chromosomes in a number of species is starting to emerge thanks to advances in a variety of experimental techniques. However, much less is known about the dynamics, especially in the functional states of…
In a prototypical mode of single-cell migration, retrograde cytoskeletal flow is mechanically coupled to the environment, propels the cell, and is sustained by an anterograde cytosolic flow of disassembled cytoskeletal components.…
Cellular microrheology has shown that cancer cells with high metastatic potential are softer compared to non-tumorigenic normal cells. These findings rely on measuring the apparent Young modulus of whole cells using primarily atomic force…
The biomechanical properties of blood clots, which are dictated by their compositions and micro-structures, play a critical role in determining their fates, occlusion, persistency, or embolization in the human circulatory system. While…
The need to understand how infection spreads to the deep lung was acutely realized during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. The challenge of modeling virus laden aerosol transport and deposition in…
Emergence of regular spatial patterns is a hallmark in living matter ranging from subcellular organelles to developing embryos and to ecosystems. Mechanisms for the formation of ordered spatial patterns in biology often require chemical…
Turing's mechanism is often invoked to explain periodic patterns in nature, although direct experimental support is scarce. Turing patterns form in reaction-diffusion systems when the activating species diffuse much slower than the…
Understanding how multicellular organisms reliably orchestrate cell-fate decisions is a central challenge in developmental biology. This is particularly intriguing in early mammalian development, where early cell-lineage differentiation…
Some microalgae store large amounts of neutral lipids inside lipid droplets. Since these lipids can be used to produce biodiesel in a sustainable way, research is developing on fast non-destructive methods to quantify and monitor the amount…
Cellular rearrangements, as primary sources of tissue fluidization, facilitate topological transitions during tissue morphogenesis. We study the role of intrinsic cell properties such as cell polarity and cell-cell adhesion in shaping…
The initial emergence of the primary root from a germinating seed is a pivotal phase that influences a plant's survival. Abiotic factors such as pH, nutrient availability, and soil composition significantly affect root morphology and…
We present a multi-objective binder design paradigm based on instruction fine-tuning and direct preference optimization (DPO) of autoregressive protein language models (pLMs). Multiple design objectives are encoded in the language model…
Flying insects are thought to achieve energy-efficient flapping flight by storing and releasing elastic energy in their muscles, tendons, and thorax. However, flight systems consisting elastic elements coupled to nonlinear, unsteady…
Action potential generation underlies some of the most consequential dynamical systems on Earth, from brains to hearts. It is therefore interesting to develop synthetic cell-free systems, based on the same molecular mechanisms, which may…
The detection of extracellular pH at single cell resolution is challenging and requires advanced sensibility. Sensing pH at a high spatial and temporal resolution might provide crucial information in understanding the role of pH and its…
Biopolymer topology is critical for determining interactions inside cell environments, exemplified by DNA where its response to mechanical perturbation is as important as biochemical properties to its cellular roles. The dynamic structures…
Cell sorting, the segregation of cells with different properties into distinct domains, is a key phenomenon in biological processes such as embryogenesis. We use a phase-field model of a confluent cell layer to study the role of activity in…
Tissue organization plays a crucial role in morphogenesis, wound healing and cancer metastasis. Hydra, known for its regenerative capabilities, serves as an excellent model for studying cellular structures, particularly in pattern formation…
The description of neuronal activity has been of great importance in neuroscience. In this field, mathematical models are useful to describe the electrophysical behaviour of neurons. One successful model used for this purpose is the…