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We consider a model of an extensible semiflexible filament moving in two dimensions on a motility assay of motor proteins represented explicitly as active harmonic linkers. Their heads bind stochastically to polymer segments within a…
Cellular membranes are elastic lipid bilayers that contain a variety of proteins, including ion channels, receptors, and scaffolding proteins. These proteins are known to diffuse in the plane of the membrane and to influence the bending of…
We study the swelling of a flexible linear chain composed of active particles by analytical theory and computer simulation. Three different situations are considered: a free chain, a chain confined to an external harmonic trap, and a chain…
A polymer chain tethered to a surface may be compact or extended, adsorbed or desorbed, depending on interactions with the surface and the surrounding solvent. This leads to a rich phase diagram with a variety of transitions. To investigate…
We present a theoretical model for predicting the phase behavior of polymer solutions in which phase separation competes with oligomerization. Specifically, we consider scenarios in which the assembly of polymer chains into stoichiometric…
Phosphorelays are a class of signaling mechanisms used by cells to respond to changes in their environment. Phosphorelays (of which two-component systems constitute a special case) are particularly abundant in prokaryotes and have been…
The cytoplasm and biomembranes in biological cells contain large numbers of proteins that cyclically change their shapes. They are molecular machines that can function as molecular motors or carry out many other tasks in the cell. We…
The ATP-driven Plasma Membrane Calcium pump or Ca(2+)-ATPase (PMCA) is characterized by a high affinity to calcium and a low transport rate compared to other transmembrane calcium transport proteins. It plays a crucial role for calcium…
The giant single-celled slime mould Physarum polycephalum exhibits complex morphological adaptation and amoeboid movement as it forages for food and may be seen as a minimal example of complex robotic behaviour. Swarm computation has…
During polymer translocation driven by e.g. voltage drop across a nanopore, the segments in the cis-side is incessantly pulled into the pore, which are then pushed out of it into the trans-side. This pulling and pushing polymer segments are…
The presence of a viscoelastic mechanism distinctly different from the segmental a-relaxation and the Rouse modes within the glass-rubber transition zone of polymers had been justified by theoretical considerations, and subsequently…
Surface and volume plasmons excited in a metal cluster by moving electron and corresponding inelastic scattering spectra are studied based on the hydrodynamic approach. Along with the bulk losses traditionally taken into account, the…
The transport of polymers with folded configurations across membrane pores is investigated theoretically by analyzing simple discrete stochastic models. The translocation dynamics is viewed as a sequence of two events: motion of the folded…
We study theoretically the bio-sensing capabilities of metal nanowire surface plasmons. As a specific example, we couple the nanowire to specific sites (bacteriochlorophyll) of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) photosynthetic pigment protein…
When rough grains in standard packing conditions are discharged from a silo, a conical depression with a single slope is formed at the surface. We observed that the increase of the volume fraction generates a more complex depression…
Morphogens are secreted signaling molecules that mediate tissue patterning and growth of embryonic tissues. They are secreted in a localized region and spread through the tissue to form a graded concentration profile. We present a…
Electromigration-induced step bunching in the presence of sublimation or deposition is studied theoretically in the attachment-limited regime. We predict a phase transition as a function of the relative strength of kinetic asymmetry and…
We study transport in synthetic, bi-disperse porous structures, with arrays of microchannels interconnected by a nanoporous layer. These structures are inspired by the xylem tissue in vascular plants, in which sap water travels from the…
We present a non-isothermal mesoscopic model for investigation of the phase transition dynamics of thermoresponsive polymers. Since this model conserves energy in the simulations, it is able to correctly capture not only the transient…
Effective metabolic waste clearance and maintaining ionic homeostasis are essential for the health and normal function of the central nervous system. To understand its mechanism and the role of fluid flow, we develop a multidomain…