Related papers: Amyloid Fibril Solubility
Collagen fibrils are the main structural component of load-bearing tissues such as tendons, ligaments, skin, the cornea of the eye, and the heart. The D-band of collagen fibrils is an axial periodic density modulation that can be easily…
Recent developments of microscopic mechanical experiments allow the manipulation of individual polymer molecules in two main ways: \textit{uniform} stretching by external forces and \textit{non-uniform} stretching by external fields. Many…
Ionic microgel particles are intriguing systems in which the properties of thermo-responsive polymeric colloids are enriched by the presence of charged groups. In order to rationalize their properties and predict the behaviour of microgel…
We present a simple and computationally efficient coarse-grained and solvent-free model for simulating lipid bilayer membranes. In order to be used in concert with particle-based reaction-diffusion simulations, the model is purely based on…
Using lattice models we explore the factors that determine the tendencies of polypeptide chains to aggregate by exhaustively sampling the sequence and conformational space. The morphologies of the fibril-like structures and the time scales…
Rigidity analysis using the "pebble game" has been applied to protein crystal structures to obtain information on protein folding, assembly and t he structure-function relationship. However, previous work using this technique has not made…
Functional proteins must fold with some minimal stability to a structure that can perform a biochemical task. Here we use a simple model to investigate the relationship between the stability requirement and the capacity of a protein to…
In structure-based models of proteins, one often assumes that folding is accomplished when all contacts are established. This assumption may frequently lead to a conceptual problem that folding takes place in a temperature region of very…
A variety of neurodegenerative diseases are associated with the formation of amyloid plaques. Our incomplete understanding of this process underscores the need to decipher the principles governing protein aggregation. Most experimental and…
The adhesion of biological membranes is mediated by the binding of membrane-anchored receptor and ligand proteins. Central questions are how the binding kinetics of these proteins is affected by the membranes and by the membrane anchoring…
Single-molecule pulling experiments on unstructured proteins linked to neurodegenerative diseases have measured rupture forces comparable to those for stable folded proteins. To investigate the structural mechanisms of this unexpected force…
Computer simulations of coarse-grained molecular models for amphiphilic systems can provide insight into the the structure of amphiphiles at interfaces. They can help to identify the factors that determine the phase behavior, and they can…
Anyone who has built a sandcastle recognizes that the addition of liquid to granular materials increases their stability. However, measurements of this increased stability often conflict with theory and with each other [1-7]. A…
Woven shell structures are beneficial for applications requiring lightweight, damage resilience, and design tunability, such as in wearable devices, soft robotics, and aerospace systems. A fundamental component of woven structures is the…
We study structural phase transition of polymer-grafted colloidal particles by Monte Carlo simulations on hard spherical particles. The interaction potential, which has a weak repulsive step outside the hard core, was validated with use of…
The adhesion of cells is mediated by receptors and ligands anchored in apposing membranes. A central question is how to characterize the binding affinity of these membrane-anchored molecules. For soluble molecules, the binding affinity is…
We study the influence of filament elasticity on the motion of collective molecular motors. It is found that for a backbone flexibility exceeding a characteristic value (motor stiffness divided through the mean displacement between attached…
State of the art research and treatment of biological tissues require accurate and efficient methods for describing their mechanical properties. Indeed, micromechanics motivated approaches provide a systematic method for elevating relevant…
The design of complex materials and the formation of specific patterns often arise from the properties of the individual building blocks. In this respect, colloidal systems offer a unique opportunity because nowadays they can be synthesized…
The modelling of heterogeneous and architected materials poses a significant challenge, demanding advanced homogenisation techniques. However, the complexity of this task can be considerably simplified through the application of micropolar…