Related papers: Geometric friction directs cell migration
We propose a model for cell migration where epithelial cells are able to detect trajectories of other cells and try to follow them. As cells move along in 2D cell culture, they mark their paths by loosing tiny parts of cytoplasm. Any cell…
Collective cell migration is a multicellular phenomenon that arises in various biological contexts, including cancer and embryo development. "Collectiveness" can be promoted by cell-cell interactions such as co-attraction and contact…
We propose a model for protein folding in vivo based on a Brownian-ratchet mechanism in the multidimensional energy landscape space. The device is able to produce directed transport taking advantage of the assumed intrinsic asymmetric…
The locomotion of flexible membrane-like organisms on top of curved surfaces appears in different contexts and scales. Still, such dynamics have not yet been quantitatively modeled and no realization of such motion in manmade systems has…
Living cells respond to mechanical changes in the matrix surrounding them by applying contractile forces that are in turn transmitted to distant cells. We calculate the mechanical work that each cell performs in order to deform the matrix,…
The flow of motor proteins on a filamental track is modelled within the the framework of lattice driven diffusive systems. Motors, considered as hopping particles, perform a highly biased asymmetric exclusion process when bound to the…
The development of traction-force microscopy, in the past two decades, has created the unprecedented opportunity of performing direct mechanical measurements on living cells as they adhere or crawl on uniform or micro-patterned substrates.…
The directed migration of cells toward stiffer substrate regions or durotaxis is relevant to tissue development and tumor progression. Here, we introduce a phenomenological model for single cell durotaxis that incorporates both elastic…
Activity and renewability are distinctive features of living matter, and constitute a new class of materials that we term renewable active matter. A striking example is the cell cytoskeleton, where myosin filaments bind to the actin…
Protein translocation in cells has been modelled by \emph{Brownian ratchets}. In such models, the protein diffuses through a nanopore. On one side of the pore, ratcheting molecules bind to the protein and hinder it to diffuse out of the…
On the basis of a model we capture the role of strong attractive interaction in suppressing the rotational degrees of freedom of the system and volume exclusion in keeping microscopic symmetry-breaking intact to result in super-diffusive…
Eukaryotic cells and intracellular pathogens such as bacteria or viruses utilize the actin polymerization machinery to propel themselves forward. Thereby, the onset of motion and choice of direction may be the result of a spontaneous…
Navigation of microorganisms is controlled by internal processes ultimately sensitive to mechanical or chemical signaling encountered along the path. In many natural environments, such as porous soils or physiological ducts, motile species…
Swimming microbes, such as bacteria and algae, live in diverse habitats including soil, ocean and human body which are characterized by structural boundaries and heterogeneous fluid flows. Although much progress has been made in…
The diffusive transport of biased Brownian particles in a two-dimensional symmetric channel is investigated numerically considering both the no-flow and the reflection boundary conditions at the channel boundaries. Here, the geometrical…
Eukaryotic flagella are active structures with a complex architecture of microtubules, motor proteins and elastic links. They are capable of whiplike motions driven by motors sliding along filaments that are themselves constrained at an…
Transport of molecular motors along protein filaments in a half-closed geometry is a common feature of biologically relevant processes in cellular protrusions. Using a lattice gas model we study how the interplay between active and…
Collections of cells exhibit coherent migration during morphogenesis, cancer metastasis, and wound healing. In many cases, bigger clusters split, smaller sub-clusters collide and reassemble, and gaps continually emerge. The connections…
We study subdiffusive ratchet transport in periodically and randomly flashing potentials. Central Brownian particle is elastically coupled to surrounding auxiliary Brownian quasi-particles which account for the influence of viscoelastic…
Cell crawling crucially depends on the collective dynamics of the acto-myosin cytoskeleton. However, it remains an open question to what extent cell polarization and persistent motion depend on continuous regulatory mechanisms and…