Related papers: Coupling chemical networks to hydrogels controls o…
We use molecular dynamics computer simulations to investigate the relaxation dynamics of a simple model for a colloidal gel at a low volume fraction. We find that due to the presence of the open spanning network this dynamics shows at low…
Molecular-motor generated active stresses drive the cytoskeleton away from equilibrium, endowing it with tunable mechanical properties that are essential for diverse functions such as cell division and motility[1-5]. Designing analogous…
A nano-shuttle consisting of two metallic islands connected in series and integrated between two contacts is studied. We evaluate the electron transport through the system in the presence of a source-drain voltage with and without an RF…
We demonstrate theoretically and experimentally that excitable systems can be built with autonomous Boolean networks. Their experimental implementation is realized with asynchronous logic gates on a reconfigurabe chip. When these excitable…
The mechanics of cells is strongly affected by molecular motors that generate forces in the cellular cytoskeleton. We develop a model for cytoskeletal networks driven out of equilibrium by molecular motors exerting transient contractile…
In networks of nonlinear oscillators, symmetries place hard constraints on the system that can be exploited to predict universal dynamical features and steady-states, providing a rare generic organizing principle for far-from-equilibrium…
Reversible crosslinking is a design paradigm for polymeric materials, wherein they are microscopically reinforced with chemical species that form transient crosslinks between the polymer chains. Besides the potential for self-healing,…
The paper highlights the role of a positive feedback gating mechanism at the cellular level in the robust- ness and modulation properties of rhythmic activities at the circuit level. The results are presented in the context of half-center…
Polymer entanglements lead to complicated topological constraints and interactions between neighbouring chains in a dense solution or melt. Entanglements can be treated in a mean field approach, within the famous reptation model, since they…
Ring oscillators are biochemical circuits consisting of a ring of interactions capable of sustained oscillations. The non-linear interactions between genes hinder the analytical insight into their function, usually requiring computational…
Metallic nanoparticles embedded in stimuli-responsive polymers can be regarded as nanoreactors since their catalytic activity can be changed within wide limits: the physicochemical properties of the polymer network can be tuned and switched…
This chapter revisits the concept of excitability, a basic system property of neurons. The focus is on excitable systems regarded as behaviors rather than dynamical systems. By this we mean open systems modulated by specific interconnection…
Dispersed colloidal particles within a suspension can aggregate and spontaneously self-organize into a robust, percolating structure known as a gel. These network-like structures are prevalent in nature and play a critical role in many…
A theoretical model of electromigrative, diffusive and convectivetransport polymer-gel composites is presented. Bulk properties are derived from the standard electrokinetic model with an impenetrable charged sphere embedded in an…
Embedding efficient calculation instructions into biochemical system has always been a research focus in synthetic biology. One of the key problems is how to sequence the chemical reaction modules that act as units of computation and make…
Living systems often exhibit internal driving: active, molecular processes drive nonequilibrium phenomena such as metabolism or migration. Active gels constitute a fascinating class of internally driven matter, where molecular motors exert…
Oscillatory chemical reactions often serve as a timing clock of cellular processes in living cells. The temporal dynamics of protein concentration levels is thus of great interest in biology. Here we propose a theoretical framework to…
Usually, the strain-induced softening behaviour observed in the differential modulus $K(T,\gamma)$ of hydrogels has been attributed to the breakage of internal structures of the network, such as the cross-links that bind together the…
How could primordial life, before the evolution of genetic systems, adapt to fluctuating environments and achieve homeostasis? This study proposes a minimal, chemically plausible model where homeostasis emerges from a simple chemical…
In this paper we present a rigorous analysis of a class of coupled dynamical systems in which two distinct types of components, one excitatory and the other inhibitory, interact with one another. These network models are finite in size but…