Related papers: How do intrinsically disordered protein regions en…
Partitioning of (bio)materials in polymeric mixtures is a key phenomenon both in cellular environments, as well as in industrial applications. In cells, several macromolecules are suspended within different biomolecular phases. On the other…
Various biological and chemical processes lead to the nucleation and growth of non-wetting fluid bubbles within the pore space of a granular medium, such as the formation of gas bubbles in liquid-saturated lake-bed sediments. In…
We propose an active Cahn-Hilliard theory for the dynamics of a new type of phase transition where the driving force is not the direct interactions between the two separating components, but their active sorting by a third polar species.…
We characterize the order-disorder transition in a model lipid bilayer using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that the ordered phase is hexatic. In particular, in-plane structures possess a finite concentration of 5-7 disclination…
We study the steady state resulting from instabilities in crystals driven through a dissipative medium, for instance, a colloidal crystal which is steadily sedimenting through a viscous fluid. The problem involves two coupled fields, the…
We investigate how an externally imposed curvature influences lipid segregation on two-phase-coexistent membranes. We show that the bending-modulus contrast of the two phases and the curvature act together to yield a reduced effective line…
Dislocation-assisted phase separation processes in binary systems subjected to irradiation effect are studied analytically and numerically. Irradiation is described by athermal atomic mixing in the form of ballistic flux with spatially…
Membrane proteins often form dimers and higher-order oligomers whose stability and spatial organization depend sensitively on their lipid environment. To investigate the physical principles underlying this coupling, we employ a lattice…
The dilute fluid phase of model globular proteins is studied. The model possesses a fluid-fluid transition buried within the fluid-crystal coexistence region, as do some globular proteins. If this fluid-fluid transition is not buried deep…
This work investigates phase separation of a monodisperse gas of inelastically colliding hard disks confined in a two-dimensional annulus, the inner circle of which represents a "thermal wall". When described by granular hydrodynamic…
We study the phase behaviour of a fluid composed of particles which interact via a pair potential that is repulsive for large inter-particle distances, is attractive at intermediate distances and is strongly repulsive at short distances…
We study the phase behavior of colloidal suspensions the solvents of which are considered to be binary liquid mixtures undergoing phase segregation. We focus on the thermodynamic region close to the critical point of the accompanying…
We present a phenomenological theory for the phase behavior of ternary mixtures of cholesterol and saturated and unsaturated lipids, one which describes both liquid and gel phases, and illuminates the mechanism of the behavior. In a binary…
Neurodegenerative diseases are driven by the accumulation of protein aggregates in the brain of affected individuals. The aggregation behaviour in vitro is well understood and driven by the equilibration of a super-saturated protein…
Intrinsically disordered proteins participate in many biological processes by folding upon binding with other proteins. However, coupled folding and binding processes are not well understood from an atomistic point of view. One of the main…
Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are important for biological functions. In contrast to folded proteins, molecular recognition among certain IDPs is "fuzzy" in that their binding and/or phase separation are stochastically governed…
Living systems must maintain robust biochemical function despite fluctuations that span a wide range of timescales. Biomolecular condensates formed by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) have been shown to buffer concentration…
Coupling between chemical fuel consumption and phase separation can lead to condensation at a nonequilibrium steady state, resulting in phase behaviors that are not described by equilibrium thermodynamics. Theoretical models of such…
The effect of rigid inclusions on the phase behavior of a film containing a mixture of lipid molecules is investigated. In the proposed model, the inclusion-induced deformation of the film, and the resulting energy cost are strongly…
The well known phenomenon of phase separation in synthetic polymers and proteins has become a major topic in biophysics because it has been invoked as a mechanism of compartment formation in cells, without the need for membranes. Most of…