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The displacement of a fluid by another less viscous one in a quasi-two dimensional geometry typically leads to complex fingering patterns. In an isotropic system, dense-branching growth arises, which is characterized by repeated…
Dynamical wiring and rewiring in neural networks are carried out by activity-dependent growth and retraction of axons and dendrites, guided by gudance molecules, released by target cells. Experience-dependent structural changes in cortical…
Time-dependent diffusion MRI (dMRI) with single diffusion encoding (SDE) probes water dynamics in biological tissues, but signal interpretation depends on microstructure. While prior work focused on restricted/hindered diffusion and…
Observations of single epidermal cells on flat adhesive substrates have revealed two distinct morphological and functional states, namely a non-migrating symmetric unpolarized state and a migrating asymmetric polarized state. These states…
Despite significant advances in understanding neuronal development, a fully quantitative framework that integrates intracellular mechanisms with environmental cues during axonal growth remains incomplete. Here, we present a unified…
The influx of calcium ions into the dendritic spines through the N-metyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) channels is believed to be the primary trigger for various forms of synaptic plasticity. In this paper, the authors calculate analytically the mean…
Animal behaviour depends on learning to associate sensory stimuli with the desired motor command. Understanding how the brain orchestrates the necessary synaptic modifications across different brain areas has remained a longstanding puzzle.…
Time-dependent diffusion MRI enables the estimation of water exchange rates in vivo, yet reported values in grey matter remain inconsistent. While most studies attribute these estimates to membrane permeability, non-permeative geometric…
The actin cortex is an active biopolymer network underneath the plasma membrane at the periphery of mammalian cells. It is a major regulator of cell shape through the generation of active cortical tension. In addition, the cortex…
We investigate the geometrical and mechanical properties of adherent cells characterized by a highly anisotropic actin cytoskeleton. Using a combination of theoretical work and experiments on micropillar arrays, we demonstrate that the…
We present a general dynamical theory of a membrane coupled to an actin cortex containing polymerizing filaments with active stresses and currents, and demonstrate that active membrane dynamics [Phys. Rev. Lett \textbf{84}, 3494 (2000)] and…
The cytoskeleton of eukaryotic cells provides mechanical support and governs intracellular transport. These functions rely on the complex mechanical properties of networks of semiflexible protein filaments. Recent theoretical interest has…
Connecting cell behavior to tissue shape and mechanics is a key challenge in the physics of morphogenesis. Cytoskeletal turnover precludes a fixed reference state, and tensions are actively generated independently of strain; so conventional…
Animals use past experiences to adapt future behavior. To enable this rapid learning, vertebrates and invertebrates have evolved analogous neural structures like the vertebrate cerebellum or insect mushroom body. A defining feature of these…
Collective cell motions underlie structure formation during embryonic development. Tissues exhibit emergent multicellular characteristics such as jamming, rigidity transitions, and glassy dynamics, but there remain questions about how those…
Neuronal circuits internally regulate electrical signaling via a host of homeostatic mechanisms. Two prominent mechanisms, synaptic scaling and structural plasticity, are believed to maintain average activity within an operating range by…
The origin of biological motion can be traced back to the function of molecular motor proteins. Cytoplasmic dynein and kinesin transport organelles within our cells moving along a polymeric filament, the microtubule. The motion of the…
This article highlights specific features of biological neurons and their dendritic trees, whose adoption may help advance artificial neural networks used in various machine learning applications. Advancements could take the form of…
Learning and memory may rely on the ability of neuronal circuits to reorganize by dendritic spine remodeling. We have looked for geometrical parameters of cortical circuits, which maximize information storage capacity associated with this…
During the asymmetric division of the Caenorhabditis elegans nematode zygote, the polarity cues distribution and daughter cell fates depend on the correct positioning of the mitotic spindle, which results from both centering and cortical…