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High-density afferents in the human hand have long been regarded as essential for human grasping and manipulation abilities. In contrast, robotic tactile sensors are typically used to provide low-density contact data, such as…
The biological skin enables animals to sense various stimuli. Extensive efforts have been made recently to develop smart skin-like sensors to extend the capabilities of biological skins; however, simultaneous sensing of several types of…
Catch-bonds, whereby noncovalent ligand-receptor interactions are counterintuitively reinforced by tensile forces, play a major role in cell adhesion under mechanical stress. A basic prerequisite for catch-bond formation is that…
Cells attach to their environment by means of focal adhesions, which are molecular complexes that exhibit the remarkable ability to adapt to mechanical load by changing their size. Drawing from the biomolecular mechanisms underlying this…
The adhesion of cell membranes is mediated by the binding of membrane-anchored receptor and ligand proteins. In this article, we review recent results from simulations and theory that lead to novel insights on how the binding equilibrium…
Adherent cells exert traction forces on to their environment, which allows them to migrate, to maintain tissue integrity, and to form complex multicellular structures. This traction can be measured in a perturbation-free manner with…
Electronic skin, a class of wearable electronic sensors that mimic the functionalities of human skin, has made remarkable success in applications including health monitoring, human-machine interaction and electronic-biological interfaces.…
Mechanical forces acting on cell adhesion receptor proteins regulate a range of cellular functions by formation and rupture of non-covalent interactions with ligands. Typically, force decreases the lifetimes of intact complexes…
Metastasis is a process of cell migration that can be collective and guided by chemical cues. Viewing metastasis in this way, as a physical phenomenon, allows one to draw upon insights from other studies of collective sensing and migration…
One of the major functions of RecA protein in the cell is to bind single-stranded DNA exposed upon damage, thereby triggering the SOS repair response.We present fluorescence anisotropy measurements at the binding onset, showing enhanced DNA…
Planar Fourier capture arrays (PFCAs) are optical sensors built entirely in standard microchip manufacturing flows. PFCAs are composed of ensembles of angle sensitive pixels (ASPs) that each report a single coefficient of the Fourier…
This is an analysis of how magnetic fields affect biological molecules and cells. It was prompted by a series of prominent reports regarding magnetism in biological systems. The first claims to have identified a protein complex that acts…
One of the most intriguing results of single molecule experiments on proteins and nucleic acids is the discovery of functional heterogeneity: the observation that complex cellular machines exhibit multiple, biologically active…
Lifetimes of bound states of protein complexes or biomolecule folded states typically decrease when subject to mechanical force. However, a plethora of biological systems exhibit the counter-intuitive phenomenon of catch bonding, where…
This paper introduces an innovative two-core fiber (TCF) optic sensor employing a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) to monitor the optogenetic response of light-sensitive human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs). The in-fiber MZI, formed using…
Recent biological experiments have shown that certain types of cells are able to move in structured and confined environment even without the activation of focal adhesion. Focusing on this particular phenomenon and based on previous works,…
Understanding the response of complex materials to external force is central to fields ranging from materials science to biology. Here, we describe a novel type of mechanical adaptation in cross-linked networks of F-actin, a ubuiquitous…
The rapidly developing research field of organic analogue sensors aims to replace traditional semiconductors with naturally occurring materials. Photosensors, or photodetectors, change their electrical properties in response to the light…
The auditory system displays remarkable sensitivity and frequency discrimination, attributes shown to rely on an amplification process that involves a mechanical as well as a biochemical response. Models that display proximity to an…
Animal cells are active, contractile objects. While bioassays address the molecular characterization of cell contractility, the mechanical characterization of the active forces in cells remains challenging. Here by confronting theoretical…