Related papers: A Three-Dimensional Mathematical Model of Collagen…
Three-dimensional shell-like structures can be obtained spontaneously at the microscale from the self-folding of 2D templates of rigid panels. At least for simple structures, the motion of each panel is consistent with a Brownian process…
The development of traction-force microscopy, in the past two decades, has created the unprecedented opportunity of performing direct mechanical measurements on living cells as they adhere or crawl on uniform or micro-patterned substrates.…
We study the self-healing process of materials with embedded "glue"-carrying cells, in the regime of the onset of the initial fatigue. Three-dimensional numerical simulations within the percolation-model approach are reported. The main…
In this paper we report, clarify and broaden various recent efforts to complement the chemistry-centered models of force generation in muscles by mechanics-centered models. The physical mechanisms of interest can be grouped into two…
Actin filaments, crosslinkers and myosin molecular motors form contractile networks. For instance, the cell cortex is a thin network below the cell membrane ; contraction of the cell cortex allows cells to round up during cell division.…
Collagen fibrils, cable-like assemblies of long biological molecules, are dominant components of connective tissues. Their determinant morphological and functional roles motivated a large number of studies concerning their formation and…
Collagen fibrils, when subjected to cyclic loading, are known to exhibit hysteretic behaviour with energy dissipation that is partially recovered on relaxation. In this paper, we develop a kinetic model for a collagen fibril incorporating…
The mechanical behaviour of solid biological tissues has long been described using models based on classical continuum mechanics. However, the classical continuum theories of elasticity and viscoelasticity cannot easily capture the…
Contraction assay based on surface measurement have been widely used to evaluate cell contractility in 3D models. This method is straightforward and requires no specific equipment, but it does not provide quantitative data about contraction…
The folding kinetics of three-dimensional lattice Go models with side chains is studied using two different Monte Carlo move sets. A flexible move set based on single, double and triple backbone moves is found to be far superior compared to…
Collagenolytic degradation is a process fundamental to tissue remodeling. The microarchitecture of collagen fibril networks changes during development, aging, and disease. Such changes to microarchitecture are often accompanied by changes…
Folding kinetics of a lattice model of protein is studied. It uses the Random Energy Model for the intrachain couplings and a temperature dependent free energy of solvation derived from a realistic hydration model of apolar solutes. The…
We describe a 3D percolation-type approach to modeling of the processes of aging and certain other properties of tissues analyzed as systems consisting of interacting cells. Lattice sites are designated as regular (healthy) cells, senescent…
We study the micromechanics of collagen-I gel with the goal of bridging the gap between theory and experiment in the study of biopolymer networks. Three-dimensional images of fluorescently labeled collagen are obtained by confocal…
We introduce a model for the dynamics of mud cracking in the limit of of extremely thin layers. In this model the growth of fracture proceeds by selecting the part of the material with the smallest (quenched) breaking threshold. In…
The kinetic behavior of a three-dimensional off-lattice heteropolymer model is studied in terms of the time dependence of the average mean-square displacement between configurations. It is found that at short time-scales similar behavior is…
A one dimensional lattice model is formulated to study tapping dynamics and the long time steady distribution in granular media. The dynamics conserves the number of particles in the system, and density changes are associated to the…
The predominant structural protein in vertebrates is collagen, which plays a key role in extracellular matrix and connective tissue mechanics. Despite its prevalence and physical importance in biology, the mechanical properties of molecular…
Models of folding of a triangular lattice embedded in a discrete space are studied as simple models of the crumpling transition of fixed-connectivity membranes. Both the case of planar folding and three-dimensional folding on a…
The thermodynamic behavior of a three-dimensional off-lattice model for protein folding is probed. The model has only two types of residues, hydrophobic and hydrophilic. In absence of local interactions, native structure formation does not…