Related papers: Embryo as an active granular fluid: stress-coordin…
We propose a new model to describe diffusion processes within active deformable media. Our general theoretical framework is based on physical and mathematical considerations, and it suggests to use diffusion tensors directly coupled to…
Convergence extension, the simultaneous elongation of tissue along one axis while narrowing along a perpendicular axis, occurs during embryonic development. A fundamental process that contributes to shaping the organism, it happens in many…
Macroscopic properties of suspensions, such as those composed of globular particles (e.g., colloidal or macromolecular), can be tuned by controlling the equilibrium aggregation of the particles. We examine how aggregation -- and, hence,…
Understanding the rules underlying organismal development is a major unsolved problem in biology. Each cell in a developing organism responds to signals in its local environment by dividing, excreting, consuming, or reorganizing, yet how…
Based on recent experiments with time-lapse fluorescent imaging, we propose a cellular automaton model for the dynamics of vascular endothelial cells (ECs) in angiogenic morphogenesis. The model successfully reproduces cell mixing behavior,…
One of the essential questions in the area of granular matter is, how to obtain macroscopic tensorial quantities like stress and strain from ``microscopic'' quantities like the contact forces in a granular assembly. Different averaging…
Minimal models of active Brownian colloids consisting of self-propelled spherical particles with purely repulsive interactions have recently been identified as excellent quantitative testing grounds for theories of active matter and have…
We analyze stress transmission in wet granular media in the pendular state by means of three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations. We show that the tensile action of capillary bonds induces a self-stressed particle network organized…
We present a framework for analyzing the rheology of dense driven granular materials, based on a recent proposal of a stress-based ensemble. In this ensemble fluctuations in a granular system near jamming are controlled by a…
Biological muscles have always attracted robotics researchers due to their efficient capabilities in compliance, force generation, and mechanical work. Many groups are working on the development of artificial muscles, however,…
Biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery, microsurgery, and sensing rely on reaching precise areas within the body in a minimally invasive way. Artificial bacterial flagella (ABFs) have emerged as potential tools for this task…
Blood coagulation is governed by tightly regulated reaction networks that unfold within a flowing, heterogeneous microvascular environment. Reduced kinetic models of the intrinsic and extrinsic pathways have seen limited in vitro…
Cells and other soft particles are often forced to flow in confined geometries in both laboratory and natural environments, where the elastic deformation induces an additional drag and pressure drop across the particle. In contrast with…
Biological cells can actively tune their intracellular architecture according to their overall shape. Here we explore the rheological implication of such coupling in a minimal model of a dense cellular material where each cell exerts an…
Fibrinogen is a protein found in blood that forms Fibrin polymer network to build a clot during wound healing process when there is a cut in the blood vessel. The fibrin fiber is highly stretchable and shows a complex mechanical properties.…
The flow of a charged-stabilized suspension through a single constricted channel is studied experimentally by tracking the particles individually. Surprisingly, the behavior is found to be qualitatively similar to that of inertial dry…
Polycrystalline materials can be viewed as composites of crystalline particles or grains separated from one another by thin amorphous grain boundary (GB) regions. While GB have been exhaustively investigated at low temperatures, where these…
We study the appearance of large-scale dynamical heterogeneities in a simplified model of a driven, dissipative granular system. Simulations of steady-state gravity-driven flows of inelastically colliding hard disks show the formation of…
We propose a hydrodynamic theory to examine the emergence of contraction waves in dense active liquids composed of pulsating deformable particles. Our theory couples the liquid density with a chemical phase that determines the periodic…
To mimic the mechanical response of passive biological cilia in complex fluids, we study the bending dynamics of an anchored elastic fiber submitted to a dilute granular suspension under shear. We show that the bending fluctuations of the…