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Chemical crosslinking of collagen is a general strategy to reproduce macroscale tissue properties in physiological environment. However, simultaneous control of protein conformation, material properties and biofunctionality is highly…
Shear cell simulations and experiments of weakly wetted particles (a few volume percent liquid binders) are compared, with the goal to understand their flow rheology. Application examples are cores for metal casting by core shooting made of…
Temperature-sensitive hydrogels based on polymers such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) undergo a volume phase transition in response to changes in temperature. During this transition, distinct changes in both thermal and mechanical…
Viruses are known to tolerate wide ranges of pH and salt conditions and to withstand internal pressures as high as 100 atmospheres. In this paper we investigate the mechanical properties of viral capsids, calling explicit attention to the…
The properties of suspensions of fine particles in dielectric liquid (electrorheological fluids) subjected to an electric field lead to a drastic change of the apparent viscosity of the fluid. For high applied fields (~ 3-5 kV/mm) the…
Molecular self-assembly plays a very important role in various aspects of technology as well as in biological systems. Governed by the covalent, hydrogen or van der Waals interactions - self-assembly of alike molecules results in a large…
We investigate the system size dependent rheological response of branched type I collagen gels. When subjected to a shear strain, the highly interconnected mesh dynamically reorients, resulting in overall stiffening of the network. When a…
Microgels are soft colloidal particles that, when dispersed in a solvent, swell and deswell in response to changes in environmental conditions, such as temperature, concentration, and $p$H. Using Monte Carlo simulation, we model bulk…
Adhesive cell-substrate interactions are crucial for cell motility and are responsible for the necessary traction that propels cells. These interactions can also change the shape of the cell, analogous to liquid droplet wetting on adhesive…
We measure the flow of water through mixed packings of glass spheres and soft swellable hydrogel grains, at constant sample volume. Permeability values are obtained at constant sample volume and at porosities smaller than random close…
Understanding the relationship between the microscopic structure and topology of a material and its macroscopic properties is a fundamental challenge across a wide range of systems. Here, we investigate the viscoelasticity of DNA nanostar…
Living tissues experience various external forces on cells, influencing their behaviour, physiology, shape, gene expression, and destiny through interactions with their environment. Despite much research done in this area, challenges remain…
Theoretical and experimental studies have revealed that electrons in condensed matter can behave hydrodynamically, exhibiting fluid phenomena such as Stokes flow and vortices. Unlike classical fluids, preferred directions inside crystals…
Hydrogen plays critical roles in materials science, particularly for advancing technologies in hydrogen storage and phase manipulation, while also posing challenges like hydrogen embrittlement. Understanding its behavior, vital for…
This work provides a complete rheological characterization of 2D-inks in electric fields with different intensities and orientations to the imposed flow field. 2D nanomaterials used in this study are graphene nanoplatelets, hexagonal…
Our lives are surrounded by a rich assortment of disordered materials. In particular, glasses are well known as dense, amorphous materials, whereas gels exist in low-density, disordered states. Recent progress has provided a significant…
The emerging applications of hydrogels in devices and machines require these soft materials to maintain robustness under cyclic mechanical loads. Whereas hydrogels have been made tough to resist fracture under a single cycle of mechanical…
Cells actively probe and respond to the stiffness of their surroundings. Since mechanosensory cells in connective tissue are surrounded by a disordered network of biopolymers, their in vivo mechanical environment can be extremely…
The industrial implementation of biofuel production from lignocellulosic biomass faces a number of economic obstacles. One of these is the cost of enzymes, typically used for cellulose hydrolysis. Nature provides some hints towards the…
We present theoretical and experimental studies of the elastic response of fibrous networks subjected to uniaxial strain. Uniaxial compression or extension is applied to extracellular networks of fibrin and collagen using a shear rheometer…