Related papers: Pulling cargo increases the precision of molecular…
Constructing physical models of living cells and tissues is an extremely challenging task because of the high complexities of both intra- and intercellular processes. In addition, the force that a single cell generates vanishes in total due…
In CFD simulations of two-phase flows, accurate drag force modeling is essential for predicting particle dynamics. However, a generally valid formulation is lacking, as all available drag force correlations have been established for…
A molecular motor is made of either a single macromolecule or a macromolecular complex. Just like their macroscopic counterparts, molecular motors "transduce" input energy into mechanical work. All the nano-motors considered here operate…
Endocytosis underlies many cellular functions including signaling and nutrient uptake. The endocytosed cargo gets redistributed across a dynamic network of endosomes undergoing fusion and fission. Here, a theoretical approach is reviewed…
Efficient navigation and precise localization of Brownian micro/nano self-propelled motor particles within complex landscapes could enable future high-tech applications involving for example drug delivery, precision surgery, oil recovery,…
Biological molecular machines are enzymes that simultaneously catalyze two processes, one donating free energy and second accepting it. Recent studies show that most native protein enzymes have a rich stochastic dynamics that often…
Intercellular signaling has an important role in organism development, but not all communication occurs using the same mechanism. Here, we analyze the energy efficiency of intercellular signaling by two canonical mechanisms: diffusion of…
Nucleic acids and proteins are not only biologically important polymers: They have recently been recognized as novel functional materials surpassing in many aspects the conventional ones. Although Herculean efforts have been undertaken to…
We report a controllable and precision approach in manipulating catalytic nanomotors by strategically applied electric (E-) fields in three dimensions (3-D). With the high controllability, the catalytic nanomotors have demonstrated new…
Intracellular cargo transport can arise from passive diffusion, active motor-driven transport along cytoskeletal filament networks, and passive advection by fluid flows entrained by such motor/cargo motion. Active and advective transport…
We revisit a recently proposed agent-based model of active biological motion and compare its predictions with own experimental findings for the speed distribution of bacterial cells, \emph{Salmonella typhimurium}. Agents move according to a…
Computer simulation of the hopping charge transport in disordered organic materials has been carried out explicitly taking into account charge-charge interactions. This approach provides a possibility to take into account dynamic…
Active colloids and liquid crystals are capable of locally converting the macroscopically-supplied energy into directional motion and promise a host of new applications, ranging from drug delivery to cargo transport at the mesoscale. Here…
Propulsion of otherwise passive objects is achieved by mechanisms of active driving. We concentrate on cases in which the direction of active drive is subject to spontaneous symmetry breaking. In our case, this direction will be maintained,…
Dynamic properties of molecular motors that fuel their motion by actively interacting with underlying molecular tracks are studied theoretically via discrete-state stochastic ``burnt-bridge'' models. The transport of the particles is viewed…
A simple model for the reaction-driven propulsion of a small device is proposed as a model for (part of) a molecular machine in aqueous media. Motion of the device is driven by an asymmetric distribution of reaction products. The propulsive…
In molecular dynamics simulations, nanochannel flows are usually driven by a constant force, that aims to represent a pressure difference between inlet and outlet, and periodic boundary conditions are applied in the streamwise direction…
Conformational transitions in macromolecular complexes often involve the reorientation of lever-like structures. Using a simple theoretical model, we show that the rate of such transitions is drastically enhanced if the lever is bendable,…
We introduce a multi-species lattice gas model for motor protein driven collective cargo transport on cellular filaments. We use this model to describe and analyze the collective motion of interacting vesicle cargoes being carried by…
This paper focusses on the energy-efficient control of a cable-driven robot for tasks that only require precise positioning at few points in their motion, and where that accuracy can be obtained through contacts. This includes the majority…