Related papers: Contour models of cellular adhesion
To understand how the mechanical properties of tissues emerge from interactions of multiple cells, we measure traction stresses of cohesive colonies of 1-27 cells adherent to soft substrates. We find that traction stresses are generally…
It is known that mechanical interactions couple a cell to its neighbors, enabling a feedback loop to regulate tissue growth. However, the interplay between cell-cell adhesion strength, local cell density and force fluctuations in regulating…
We propose a three dimensional mechanical model of embryonic tissue dynamics. Mechanically coupled adherent cells are represented as particles interconnected with elastic beams which can exert non-central forces and torques. Tissue…
We review theoretical results for the adhesion-induced phase behavior of biomembranes. The focus is on models in which the membranes are represented as discretized elastic sheets with embedded adhesion molecules. We present several…
Cells exert traction forces on compliant substrates and can induce surface instabilities that appear as characteristic wrinkling patterns. Here, we develop a mechanical description of cell-induced wrinkling on soft substrates using a thin…
It is now widely recognized that mechanical interactions between cells play a crucial role in epithelial morphogenesis, yet understanding the mechanisms through which stress and deformation affect cell behavior remains an open problem due…
Cell shape changes are largely controlled by the actin cytoskeleton, a dynamic filament network beneath the plasma membrane. Several cell types can form extended free-standing protrusions not supported by an extracellular substrate or…
In Part I of this two part series, we presented a multi-neighbor dependent contact model for adhesive elastic-plastic particles built upon the method of dimensionality reduction that is valid for the elastic and fully-plastic contact…
The actin cortex is a thin layer of actin, myosin, and actin binding proteins that underlies the membrane of most animal cells. It is highly dynamic and can undergo remodelling on time-scales of tens of seconds thanks to protein turnover…
We present a model for the actin contractile ring of adherent animal cells. The model suggests that the actin concentration within the ring and consequently the power that the ring exerts both increase during contraction. We demonstrate the…
This study presents a novel, versatile traction force microscopy framework for quantifying three-dimensional (3D) interfacial forces during bio-adhesion by integrating in situ stereo digital image correlation with finite element (FE)…
The alignment of fibers and cells in living tissues affect their mechanical properties and functionality. In this context, one can draw an analogy between tissues and nematic liquid crystal elastomers. We explore this analogy by growing…
Solid contacts involving soft materials are important in mechanical engineering or biomechanics. Experimentally, such contacts have been shown to shrink significantly under shear, an effect which is usually explained using adhesion models.…
Several models have been proposed to describe the dynamics of epithelial tissues undergoing morphogenetic changes driven by apical constriction pulses, which differ in where the constriction is applied, either at the perimeter or medial…
We develop two new continuum contact models for coupled adhesion and friction, and discuss them in the context of existing models proposed in the literature. Our new models are able to describe sliding friction even under tensile normal…
An adequate control of cell response in tissue engineering applications is of utmost importance to obtain products suitable to clinical practice. This paper is the first part of a series of two connected publications in which we study via…
Living soft tissues appear to promote the development and maintenance of a preferred mechanical state within a defined tolerance around a so-called set-point. This phenomenon is often referred to as mechanical homeostasis. In contradiction…
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…
Contractile forces exerted on the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM) lead to the alignment and stretching of constituent fibers within the vicinity of cells. As a consequence, the matrix reorganizes to form thick bundles of aligned…
The motility of a cell can be triggered or inhibited not only by an applied force but also by a mechanically neutral force couple. This type of loading, represented by an applied stress and commonly interpreted as either squeezing or…