Related papers: Membrane tension lowering induced by protein activ…
An earlier four-loop calculation of the fluctuation pressure of a fluid membrane between two infinite walls is extended to five loops. Variational perturbation theory is used to extract the hard-wall limit from perturbative results obtained…
Recently, a growing interest has been addressed to the electrical properties of bacteriorhodopsin (bR), a protein belonging to the transmembrane protein family. To take into account the structure-dependent nature of the current, in a…
A protein undergoes conformational dynamics with multiple time scales, which results in fluctuating enzyme activities. Recent studies in single molecule enzymology have observe this "age-old" dynamic disorder phenomenon directly. However,…
We consider the hydrodynamics of lipid bilayers containing transmembrane proteins of arbitrary shape. This biologically-motivated problem is relevant to the cell membrane, whose fluctuating dynamics play a key role in phenomena ranging from…
Collective behaviour in suspensions of microswimmers is often dominated by the impact of long-ranged hydrodynamic interactions. These phenomena include active turbulence, where suspensions of pusher bacteria at sufficient densities exhibit…
We propose a minimal model for miscibility phase transitions (MPTs) in a class of asymmetric two-component heterogeneous fluid membranes at equilibrium that generically display both first and second order MPTs, controlled by the interplay…
Membrane tubes (spicules) arise in cells, or artificial membranes, in the nonlinear deformation regime due to, e.g. the growth of microtubules, actin filaments or sickle hemoglobin fibers towards a membrane. We calculate the axial force…
In an adiabatically shielded system the total enthalpy is conserved. Enthalpy fluctuations of an arbitrarily chosen subsystem must be buffered by the remainder of the total system which serves as a heat reservoir. The magnitude of these…
We consider a system of $N$ neurons, each spiking randomly with rate depending on its membrane potential. When a neuron spikes, its potential is reset to $0$ and all other neurons receive an additional amount $h/N$ of potential, where $ h >…
The effect of damping in the wave turbulence regime for thin vibrating plates is studied. An experimental method, allowing measurements of dissipation in the system at all scales, is first introduced. Practical experimental devices for…
We analyse the size and density of thermally induced regions of close contact in cell:cell contact interfaces within a harmonic potential approximation, estimating these regions to be below one-tenth of a micron across. Our calculations…
We consider directed semiflexible polymers embedded in a fluctuating surface which is governed by either surface tension or bending rigidity. The attractive interactions induced by the fluctuations of the surface reduce the rigidity of the…
We explore how thermal fluctuations affect the mechanics of thin amorphous spherical shells. In flat membranes with a shear modulus, thermal fluctuations increase the bending rigidity and reduce the in-plane elastic moduli in a…
Membrane tension is an acknowledged regulator of a wide array of cell functions; however, whether it acts locally or globally in different contexts remains debated. Recent experiments that locally perturb tension and measure the response…
Large-scale force generation is essential for biological functions such as cell motility, embryonic development, and muscle contraction. In these processes, forces generated at the molecular level by motor proteins are transmitted by…
The role of thermal pressure fluctuation excited within tightly packaged DNA prior to ejection from protein capsid shells is discussed in a model calculation. At equilibrium before ejection we assume the DNA is folded many times into a…
The shapes of cell membranes are largely regulated by membrane associated, curvature active, proteins. We use a numerical model of the membrane with elongated membrane inclusions, recently developed by us, which posses spontaneous…
We investigated the nanometer scale height fluctuations of 3T3 fibroblast cells with the atomic force microscope (AFM) under physiological conditions. Correlation between these fluctuations and lateral cellular motility can be observed.…
Correct measurement of the shell properties of coated microbubbles (MBs) is essential to understanding and optimizing their response to ultrasound (US) exposure parameters in diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound. MBs are surrounded by…
Considerable insight into the functional activity of proteins and enzymes can be obtained by studying the low-energy conformational distortions that the biopolymer can sustain. We carry out the characterization of these large scale…