Related papers: Elastic moderation of intrinsically applied tensio…
Fluid membranes made out of lipid bilayers are the fundamental separation structure in eukaryotic cells. Many physiological processes rely on dramatic shape and topological changes (e.g. fusion, fission) of fluid membrane systems. Fluidity…
The effect of AC electric fields on the elasticity of supported lipid bilayers has been investigated at the microscopic level using grazing incidence synchrotron x-ray scattering. A strong decrease in the membrane tension up to 1mN/m and a…
In practice, physical membranes are exposed to a certain amount of external strain (tension or compression), due to the environment where they are placed. As a result, the behavior of the phonon modes of the membrane is modified. We show…
The electrostatic contribution to spontaneous membrane curvature is calculated within Poisson-Boltzmann theory under a variety of assumptions and emphasizing parameters in the physiological range. Asymmetric surface charges, either fixed…
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…
Active contributions to fluctuations are a direct consequence of metabolic energy consumption in living cells. Such metabolic processes continuously create active forces, which deform the membrane to control motility, proliferation as well…
Lipid membranes, fundamental to cellular function, undergo various mechanical deformations. Accurate modeling of these processes necessitates a thorough understanding of membrane elasticity. The lateral shear modulus, a critical parameter…
Stochastic thermodynamics provides a useful set of tools to analyze and constrain the behavior of far from equilibrium systems. In this paper, we report an application of ideas from stochastic thermodynamics to the problem of membrane…
Experimentally measuring the elastic properties of thin biological surfaces is non-trivial, particularly when they are curved. One technique that may be used is the indentation of a thin sheet of material by a rigid indenter, whilst…
We consider a one-dimensional elastic membrane, which is pushed by growing filaments. The filaments tend to grow by creating local protrusions in the membrane and this process has surface energy and bending energy costs. Although it is…
Changes of external parameters in proximity of critical point can increase thermal fluctuations of tubular lipid membrane (TLM) and result in variation of the membrane shape. The phase transitions in the system are shown to be controlled by…
When a colloidal particle adheres to a fluid membrane, it induces elastic deformations in the membrane which oppose its own binding. The structural and energetic aspects of this balance are theoretically studied within the framework of a…
We present a novel buckling instability relevant to membrane budding in eukaryotic cells. In this mechanism, curved filaments bind to a lipid bilayer without changing its intrinsic curvature. As more and more filaments adsorb, newly added…
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…
This article concludes a three-part series developing a self-consistent theoretical framework of the electromechanics of lipid membranes at the continuum scale. Owing to their small thickness, lipid membranes are commonly modeled as…
Instabilities in thin elastic sheets, such as wrinkles, are of broad interest both from a fundamental viewpoint and also because of their potential for engineering applications. Nematic liquid crystal elastomers offer a new form of control…
A study is made of how active membrane proteins can modify the long wavelength mechanics of fluid membranes. The activity of the proteins is modelled as disturbing the protein surroundings through non-local force distributions of which a…
Protein mechanosensitive channels (MS) are activated by tension transmitted through the lipid bilayer. We propose a theory of lateral stress relaxation in a bilayer lipid membrane exposed to external pressure pulse in the patch-clamp…
The dynamical response of a lipid membrane to a local perturbation of its molecular symmetry is investigated theoretically. A density asymmetry between the two membrane leaflets is predominantly released by in-plane lipid diffusion or…
Recent research has shown that motile cells can adapt their mode of propulsion to the mechanical properties of the environment in which they find themselves--crawling in some environments while swimming in others. The latter can involve…