Related papers: Border forces and friction control epithelial clos…
The free volume comprised between rough surfaces in contact governs the fluid/gas transport properties across networks of cracks and the leakage/percolation phenomena in seals. In this study, a fundamental insight into the evolution of the…
We develop an athermal shear-transformation-zone (STZ) theory of plastic deformation in spatially inhomogeneous, amorphous solids. Our ultimate goal is to describe the dynamics of the boundaries of voids or cracks in such systems when they…
Contractile forces exerted on the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM) lead to the alignment and stretching of constituent fibers within the vicinity of cells. As a consequence, the matrix reorganizes to form thick bundles of aligned…
Phagocytosis is the process of engulfment and internalization of comparatively large particles by the cell, that plays a central role in the functioning of our immune system. We study the process of phagocytosis by considering a simplified…
When a finite volume of an etching solution comes in contact with a disordered solid, a complex dynamics of the solid-solution interface develops. Since only the weak parts are corroded, the solid surface hardens progressively. If the…
Many biological tissues feature a heterogeneous network of fibers whose tensile and bending rigidity contribute substantially to these tissues' elastic properties. Rigidity percolation has emerged as a important paradigm for relating these…
Epithelial spreading is a common and fundamental aspect of various developmental and disease-related processes such as epithelial closure and wound healing. A key challenge for epithelial tissues undergoing spreading is to increase their…
Cell invasion and spatial pattern formation are two distinct manifestations of cellular self-organisation in development, regeneration, and disease. Here, we develop and analyse a unified theoretical framework that links these two seemingly…
The adhesive contact between elastic solids with randomly rough, self affine fractal surfaces is studied by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The interfacial binding energy obtained from the simulations of nominally flat and curved…
Transitions from quiescence to collective migration in epithelia underlie wound healing and cancer invasion, yet their physical origin remains poorly understood. Here we show that quiescent epithelial monolayers store spatially contractile…
Cell blebs are protrusions of the cell membrane and can be instrumental for cell migration. We derive a continuum model for the mechanical and geometrical aspects of the onset of blebbing in terms of a force balance. It is abstract and…
The contact process is a simple model for the spread of an infection in a structured population. We investigate the case when the underlying structure evolves dynamically as a degree-dependent dynamical percolation model. Starting with a…
In this paper, we present a 2D numerical model developed to simulate the dynamics of soft, deformable particles. To accommodate significant particle deformations, the particle surface is represented as a narrow shell composed of mass points…
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.…
Collective cell migration is a highly regulated process involved in wound healing, cancer metastasis and morphogenesis. Mechanical interactions among cells provide an important regulatory mechanism to coordinate such collective motion.…
We measure different contributions to entropy production in a living functional epithelial tissue. We do this by extracting the functional dynamics of development while at the same time quantifying fluctuations. Using the translucent…
Self-healing of polymer films often takes place as the molecules diffuse across a damaged region, above their melting temperature. Using molecular dynamics simulations we probe the healing of polymer films and compare the results with those…
The stability of the boundary between regenerating tissues is essential to the maintenance of their integrity and biological function. Stress is known to play an important role in the regulation of cell division, cell growth and cell death,…
We propose a variational phase-field model of fracture capable of accounting for arbitrary closed convex strength domains. Unlike traditional models based on Ambrosio and Tortorelli regularization, the phase-field variable does not affect…
Wound geometry and the mechanical properties of human skin govern the failure modes of partially healed or scarred tissue. Though dermatologists and surgeons develop an intuitive understanding of the mechanical characteristics of skin…