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Composites of flexible and rigid polymers are ubiquitous in biology and industry alike, yet the physical principles determining their mechanical properties are far from understood. Here, we couple force spectroscopy with large-scale…
As a consequence of the rugged landscape of RNA molecules their folding is described by the kinetic partitioning mechanism according to which only a small fraction ($\phi_F$) reaches the folded state while the remaining fraction of…
The cytoskeletal component actomyosin is a canonical example of active matter since the powerstroke cycle locally converts chemical energy in the form of adenoside triphosphate (ATP) into mechanical work for remodelling. Observing myosin II…
Many biological functions rely on the reshaping of cell membranes, in particular into nanotubes, which are covered in vivo by dynamic actin networks. Nanotubes are subject to thermal fluctuations, but the effect of these on cell functions…
We study a discrete-time interacting particle system with continuous state space which is motivated by a mathematical model for turnover through branching in actin filament networks. It gives rise to transient clusters reminiscent of actin…
The dynamic behavior of bundles of actin filaments growing against a loaded obstacle is investigated through a generalized version of the standard multi filaments Brownian Ratchet model in which the (de)polymerizing filaments are treated…
A motile cell, when stimulated, shows a dramatic increase in the activity of its membrane, manifested by the appearance of dynamic membrane structures such as lamellipodia, filopodia and membrane ruffles. The external stimulus turns on…
We propose a novel mechanism of cell motility, which relies on the coupling of actin polymerization at the cell membrane to geometric confinement. We consider a polymerizing viscoelastic cytoskeletal gel confined in a narrow channel, and…
Traditional neural networks, while powerful, rely on biologically implausible learning mechanisms such as global backpropagation. This paper introduces the Structurally Adaptive Predictive Inference Network (SAPIN), a novel computational…
The cytoskeleton is an important subsystem of cells that is involved for example in cell division and locomotion. It consists of filaments that are cross-linked by molecular motors that can induce relative sliding between filaments and…
We perform equilibrium Langevin dynamics simulations to understand the structure-viscoelasticity relationship of a dually crosslinked reversible polymer network. The cross-linking is achieved by introducing orthogonal crosslinkers (A and B)…
The composite cytoskeleton, comprising interacting networks of semiflexible actin and rigid microtubules, actively generates forces and restructures using motor proteins such as myosins to enable key mechanical processes including cell…
Cells moving on a two dimensional substrate generate motion by polymerizing actin filament networks inside a flat membrane protrusion. New filaments are generated by branching off existing ones, giving rise to branched network structures.…
In nature interactions between biopolymers and motor proteins give rise to biologically essential emergent behaviours. Besides cytoskeleton mechanics, active nematics arise from such interactions. Here we present a study on 3D active…
Disordered fibrous networks are ubiquitous in nature as major structural components of living cells and tissues. The mechanical stability of networks generally depends on the degree of connectivity: only when the average number of…
The actin cortex is a thin layer of actin filaments and myosin motors beneath the outer membrane of animal cells. It determines the cells' mechanical properties and forms important morphological structures. Physical descriptions of the…
Actin cables are linear cytoskeletal structures that serve as tracks for myosin-based intracellular transport of vesicles and organelles in both yeast and mammalian cells. In a yeast cell undergoing budding, cables are in constant dynamic…
The ABC (ATP Binding Cassette) transporter protein superfamily comprises a large number of ubiquitous and functionally versatile proteins conserved from archaea to humans. ABC transporters have a key role in many human diseases and also in…
Many models have been developed to study the role of branching actin networks in motility. One important component of those models is the distribution of filament orientations relative to the cell membrane. Two mean-field models previously…
We present a combined numerical and analytical study of pattern formation in an active system where particles align, possess a density-dependent motility, and are subject to a logistic reaction. This is a model for suspensions of…