Related papers: Packing defects and the width of biopolymer bundle…
We develop a formalism that describes the bending and twisting of axoneme-like filament bundles. We obtain general formulas to determine the relative sliding between any arbitrary filaments in a bundle subjected to unconstrained…
A collection of thin structures buckle, bend, and bump into each-other when confined. This contact can lead to the formation of patterns: hair will self-organize in curls; DNA strands will layer into cell nuclei; paper, when crumpled, will…
The cooperative action of many molecular motors is essential for dynamic processes such as cell motility and mitosis. This action can be studied by using motility assays in which the motion of cytoskeletal filaments over a surface coated…
We introduce a fiber bundle model where the interaction among fibers is modeled by an adjustable stress-transfer function which can interpolate between the two limiting cases of load redistribution, the global and the local load sharing…
We consider how beads can diffuse along a chain that wraps them, without becoming displaced from the chain; our proposed mechanism is analogous to the reptation of "stored length" in more familiar situations of polymer dynamics. The problem…
When a flexible filament is confined to a fluid interface, the balance between capillary attraction, bending resistance, and tension from an external source can lead to a self-buckling instability. We perform an analysis of this instability…
It is assumed, that the clumps of lines do not connected with states mixing and IVR, but they are the result of breaking (destruction) of the process of averaging of momentum of inertia of molecules during the vibration motion of atoms.…
The formation, maintenance and reorganization of the cytoskeletal filament network is essential for a number of cellular processes. While the crucial role played by active forces generated by motor proteins has been studied extensively,…
Actin filaments, crosslinkers and myosin molecular motors form contractile networks. For instance, the cell cortex is a thin network below the cell membrane ; contraction of the cell cortex allows cells to round up during cell division.…
We formulate a nonlinear continuum model of a graphene sheet supported by a flat rigid substrate. The sheet is parallel to the substrate and loaded on a pair of opposite edges. A typical cross-section of the sheet is modeled as an elastica.…
Buckling instabilities driven by tissue growth underpin key developmental events such as the folding of the brain. Tissue growth is disordered due to cell-to-cell variability, but the effects of this variability on buckling are unknown.…
Cells make use of semi-flexible biopolymers such as actin or intermediate filaments to control their local viscoelastic response by dynamically adjusting the concentration and type of cross-linker molecules. The microstructure of the…
We develop a model to describe the force generated by the polymerization of an array of parallel biofilaments. The filaments are assumed to be coupled only through mechanical contact with a movable barrier. We calculate the filament density…
The mechanics of complex soft matter often cannot be understood in the classical physical frame of flexible polymers or rigid rods. The underlying constituents are semiflexible polymers, whose finite bending stiffness ($\kappa$) leads to…
Cell adhesion, a fundamental process of cell biology is involved in the embryo development and in numerous pathologies especially those related to cancers. We constrained cells to adhere on extracellular matrix proteins patterned in a micro…
Conflicting experimental results have been reported for the plateau modulus in actin solutions: Analogies are often made with the viscoelastic behaviour of flexible polymers making use of the idea of entanglement as the source of the…
We present a theoretical framework for the linear and nonlinear visco-elastic properties of reversibly crosslinked networks of semiflexible polymers. In contrast to affine models where network strain couples to the polymer end-to-end…
Active filaments are a workhorse for propulsion and actuation across biology, soft robotics and mechanical metamaterials. However, artificial active rods suffer from limited robustness and adaptivity because they rely on external control,…
We study the failure properties of fiber bundles when continuous rupture goes on due to the application of external load on the bundles. We take the two extreme models: equal load sharing model (democratic fiber bundles) and local load…
Cellular actin structures are continuously turned over while keeping similar sizes. Since they all compete for a shared pool of actin monomers, the question arises how they can coexist in these dynamic steady states. Recently, the…