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We study theoretically situations where competition arises between an interdiffusion process and a cross-linking chemical reaction at interfaces between pieces of the same polymer material. An example of such a situation is observable in…
High temperature polymer-based dielectric capacitors are crucial for application in electronic power systems. However, the storage performance of conventional dielectrics polymer dramatically deteriorates due to the thermal breakdown under…
We represent a theory of polymer gelation as an analogue of liquid-glass transition in which elastic fields of stress and strain shear components appear spontaneously as a consequence of the cross-linking of macromolecules. This…
We present a theoretical framework for the linear and nonlinear visco-elastic properties of reversibly crosslinked networks of semiflexible polymers. In contrast to affine models where network strain couples to the polymer end-to-end…
In the cell, protein complexes form relying on specific interactions between their monomers. Excluded volume effects due to molecular crowding would lead to correlations between molecules even without specific interactions. What is the…
In this work we study the assisted translocation of a polymer across a membrane nanopore, inside which a molecular motor exerts a force fuelled by the hydrolysis of ATP molecules. In our model the motor switches to its active state for a…
The collective response of a system is profoundly shaped by the interaction dynamics between its constituent elements. In physics, tailoring these interactions can enable the observation of unusual phenomena that are otherwise inaccessible…
Biomimetic hydrogels based on natural polymers are a promising class of biomaterial, mimicking the natural extra-cellular matrix of biological tissues and providing cues for cell attachment, proliferation and differentiation. With a view to…
The dynamics of a folded protein is studied in water and glycerol at a series of temperatures below and above their respective dynamical transition. The system is modeled in two distinct states whereby the protein is decoupled from the bulk…
We analyse the dynamics of overlapping antiparallel treadmilling microtubules in the presence of crosslinking processive motor proteins that counterbalance an external force. We show that coupling the force-dependent velocity of motors and…
Heterogeneous distribution of passive and active domains in the chromosome plays a crucial role for its dynamic organization within the cell nucleus. Motivated by that here we investigate the steady-state conformation and dynamics of a…
We suggest a simple model for reversible cross-links, binding and unbinding to/from a network of semiflexible polymers. The resulting frequency dependent response of the network to an applied shear is calculated via Brownian dynamics…
Cells make use of semi-flexible biopolymers such as actin or intermediate filaments to control their local viscoelastic response by dynamically adjusting the concentration and type of cross-linker molecules. The microstructure of the…
Living matter moves, deforms, and organizes itself. In cells this is made possible by networks of polymer filaments and crosslinking molecules that connect filaments to each other and that act as motors to do mechanical work on the network.…
Dynamic bonding is an essential feature of many soft materials. Molecular simulations have proven to be a powerful tool for modeling bonding kinetics and thermodynamics in these materials, providing insights into their properties that…
We study the nonequilibrium kinetics during the coil-globule transition of a flexible polymer chain with active beads after a quench from good to poor solvent condition using molecular dynamics simulation. Activity for each bead is…
We introduce a model for microtubule mechanics containing lateral bonds between dimers in neighboring protofilaments, bending rigidity of dimers, and repulsive interactions between protofilaments modeling steric constraints to investigate…
The design of hydrogels that combine mechanical robustness with dynamic reconfigurability remains a fundamental challenge, as increasing crosslink dissociation rates compromise network integrity. This limitation is addressed through the…
We report extensive numerical simulations of different models of 2D polymer rings with internal elasticity. We monitor the dynamical behavior of the rings as a function of the packing fraction, to address the effects of particle deformation…
Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed on pure liquid water, aqueous solutions of sodium chloride, and polymer solutions exposed to a strong external electric field with the goal to gain molecular insight into the structural…