Related papers: Alignment and Nonlinear Elasticity in Biopolymer G…
On microscopic scales, the crystallinity of flexible tethered or cross linked membranes determines their mechanical response. We show that by controlling the type, number and distribution of defects on a spherical elastic shell, it is…
There is now growing evidence of the emergence and biological functionality of liquid crystal features, including nematic order and topological defects, in cellular tissues. However, how such features that intrinsically rely on particle…
Biological cells sense and respond to mechanical forces, but how such a mechanosensing proccess takes place in a nonlinear inhomogeneous fibrous matrix remains unknown. We show that cells in a fibrous matrix induce deformation fields that…
We study the $\Gamma$-limit of 3d nonlinear elasticity for shells of small, variable thickness, around an arbitrary smooth 2d surface.
The elastic response is studied of a single flexible chain grafted on a rigid plane and an ensemble of non-interacting tethered chains. It is demonstrated that the entropic theory of rubber elasticity leads to conclusions that disagree with…
We study the nonlinear elastic response of a two-dimensional material to a localized boundary force, with the particular goal of understanding the differences observed between isotropic granular materials and those with hexagonal…
We present using simple scaling arguments and one step replica symmetry breaking a theory for the localization of semiflexible polymers in a quenched random environment. In contrast to completely flexible polymers, localization of…
Growth and folding in one-layered model tissue sheets are studied in a stochastic, lattice-free single cell model which considers the discrete cellular structure of the tissue, and a coarse grained analytical approach. The polarity of the…
We present a study on swelling-induced circumferential buckling of tubular shaped gels. Inhomogeneous stress develops as gel swells under mechanical constraints, which gives rise to spontaneous buckling instability without external force.…
Recent theoretical work has derived the correct form of the Ginzburg-Landau differential equations, for the superconducting order parameter and vector potential, in the presence of a small defect. Here, these equations are applied to the…
The elastic properties of two-component bilayer membranes are studied using a coarse grain model for amphiphilic molecules. The two species of amphiphiles considered here differ only in their length. Molecular Dynamics simulations are…
We review recent computer simulation studies of undulating lipid bilayers. Theoretical interpretations of such fluctuating membranes are most commonly based on generalized Helfrich-type elastic models, with additional contributions of local…
The dynamics of cellular pattern formation is crucial for understanding embryonic development and tissue morphogenesis. Recent studies have shown that human dermal fibroblasts cultured on liquid crystal elastomers can exhibit an increase in…
We develop a continuum theory to describe the collective dynamics of deformable epithelial cells, using two tensor order parameters to distinguish the force-generating active filaments in the cells from their shape. The theory demonstrates…
Langmuir monolayers are modeled as systems of short chains, which are confined to a planar surface at one end, but free to move within the plane. The phase behavior is calculated in a mean field approximation, which combines the self…
Although pathway-specific kinetic theories are fundamentally important to describe and understand reversible polymerisation kinetics, they come in principle at a cost of having a large number of system-specific parameters. Here, we…
Entangled polymers are deformed by a strong shear flow. The shape of the polymer, called the form factor, is measured by small angle neutron scattering. However, the real-space molecular structure is not directly available from the…
We have constructed a model for the kinetics of rupture of membranes under tension, applying physical principles relevant to lipid bilayers held together by hydrophobic interactions. The membrane is characterized by the bulk compressibility…
Exchange of molecules allows cells to exchange information. How robust is the information to changes in cell parameters? We use a mapping between the stochastic dynamics of two cells sharing a stimulatory molecule, and parameters akin to an…
We develop and analyse a discrete, one-dimensional model of cell motility which incorporates the effects of volume filling, cell-to-cell adhesion and chemotaxis. The formal continuum limit of the model is a nonlinear generalisation of the…