Related papers: Treadmilling stability of a one-dimensional actin …
Structure formation and constant reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton are key requirements for the function of living cells. Here we show that a minimal reconstituted system consisting of actin filaments, crosslinking molecules and…
Living cells move thanks to assemblies of actin filaments and myosin motors that range from very organized striated muscle tissue to disordered intracellular bundles. The mechanisms powering these disordered structures are debated, and all…
Competition for resources is a fundamental constraint that guides the self-organization of natural, biological, and human systems, ranging from urban planning and ecosystem development to intracellular pattern formation. Here, we reveal…
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…
Inspired by experiments on the actin driven propulsion of micrometer sized beads we develop and study a minimal mechanical model of a two-dimensional network of stiff elastic filaments grown from the surface of a cylinder. Starting out from…
Pattern formation and the mechanics of a mixture of actin filaments and myosin motors that is confined by a rigid membrane is investigated. By using a coarse-grained molecular dynamics model, we demonstrate that the competition between the…
The actin cytoskeleton is remarkably adaptable and multifunctional. It often organizes into nematic bundles such as contractile rings or stress fibers. However, how a uniform and isotropic actin gel self-organizes into dense nematic bundles…
We consider a classical spring-mass model of human running which is built upon an inverted elastic pendulum. Based on our previous results concerning asymptotic solutions for large spring constant (or small angle of attack), we construct…
In the present contribution we review basic mathematical results for three physical systems involving self-organising solid or liquid films at solid surfaces. The films may undergo a structuring process by dewetting,…
Surface growth, by association or dissociation of material on the boundaries of a body, is ubiquitous in both natural and engineering systems. It is the fundamental mechanism by which biological materials grow, starting from the level of a…
We studied the step dynamics during crystal sublimation and growth in the limit of fast surface diffusion and slow kinetics of atom attachment-detachment at the steps. For this limit we formulate a model free of the quasi-static…
The functioning of machines typically requires a concerted action of their parts. This requirement also holds for molecular motors that drive vital cellular processes and imposes constraints on their conformational changes as well as the…
Despite significant advances in understanding neuronal development, a fully quantitative framework that integrates intracellular mechanisms with environmental cues during axonal growth remains incomplete. Here, we present a unified…
Filamentous actin, a species of dynamic protein polymers, is one of the main components of the cytoskeleton of eukaryotic cells. We formulate a class of models that predict the possibility of bistable steady states in populations of dynamic…
Cell spreading is investigated at various scales in order to understand motility of living cells which is essential for a range of physiological activities in higher organisms as well as in microbes. At a microscopic scale, it has been seen…
The actomyosin cytoskeleton, a protein assembly comprising actin fibers and the myosin molecular motor, drives various cellular dynamics through contractile force generation at high densities. However, the relationship between the density…
The actin cytoskeleton is a key component in the machinery of eukaryotic cells, and it selfassembles out of equilibrium into a wide variety of biologically crucial structures. While the molecular mechanisms involved are well characterized,…
We discuss a theoretical model for the cooperative binding dynamics of tropomyosin to actin filaments. Tropomyosin binds to actin by occupying seven consecutive monomers. The model includes a strong attraction between attached tropomyosin…
We consider a model to describe stable configurations in epitaxial growth of crystals in the two dimensional case, and in the regime of linearized elasticity. The novelty is that the model also takes into consideration the adatom density on…
Accretion and ablation, i.e. the addition and removal of mass at the surface, is important in a wide range of physical processes including solidification, growth of biological tissues, environmental processes, and additive manufacturing.…