Related papers: Examining the assembly pathways and active microtu…
The plant microtubule cortical array is a striking feature of all growing plant cells. It consists of a more or less homogeneously distributed array of highly aligned microtubules connected to the inner side of the plasma membrane and…
Cytoskeletal networks are foundational examples of active matter and central to self-organized structures in the cell. In vivo, these networks are active and heavily crosslinked. Relating their large-scale dynamics to properties of their…
Guided movement in response to slowly diffusing polymeric trails provides a unique mechanism for self-organization of some microorganisms. To elucidate how this signaling route leads to microcolony formation, we experimentally probe the…
The molecular machinery of life is largely created via self-organisation of individual molecules into functional assemblies. Minimal coarse-grained models, where a whole macromolecule is represented by a small number of particles, can be of…
We examined the sensitivity of microtubule spools to transport velocity. Perhaps surprisingly, we determined that the steady-state number and size of spools remained constant over a seven-fold range of velocities. Our data on the kinetics…
A critical step in tissue engineering is the design and synthesis of 3D biocompatible matrices (scaffolds) to support and guide the proliferation of cells and tissue growth. Most existing techniques rely on the processing of scaffolds under…
Active matter composed of self-propelled particles features fascinating self-organization phenomena, spanning from motility-induced phase separation to phototaxis to topological excitations depending on the nature and parameters of the…
Experimental studies of cell motility in culture have shown that under adequate conditions these living organisms possess the ability to organize themselves into complex structures. Such structures may exhibit a synergy that greatly…
We derive a model describing spatio-temporal organization of an array of microtubules interacting via molecular motors. Starting from a stochastic model of inelastic polar rods with a generic anisotropic interaction kernel we obtain a set…
The organization of the axonal cytoskeleton is a key determinant of the normal function of an axon, which is a long thin projection away from a neuron. Under normal conditions two axonal cytoskeletal polymers microtubules and neurofilaments…
The proper positioning of the mitotic spindle is crucial for asymmetric cell division and generating cell diversity during development. Proper position in the single-cell embryo of Caenorhabditis elegans is achieved initially by the…
We systematically explore the self-assembly of semi-flexible polymers in deformable spherical confinement across a wide regime of chain stiffness, contour lengths and packing fractions by means of coarse-grained molecular dynamics…
The microtubule (MT) motor Kip3p is very processive kinesin that promotes catastrophes and pausing in particular on cortical contact. These properties explain the role of Kip3p in positioning the mitotic spindle in budding yeast and…
In the mitotic spindle microtubules attach to kinetochores via catch bonds during metaphase, and microtubule depolymerization forces give rise to stochastic chromosome oscillations. We investigate the cooperative stochastic microtubule…
The efficient and controlled assembly of complex structures from macromolecular building blocks is a critical open question in both biological systems and nanoscience. Using molecular dynamics simulations we study the self-assembly of…
Intracellular transport is vital for the proper functioning and survival of a cell. Cargo (proteins, vesicles, organelles, etc.) is transferred from its place of creation to its target locations via molecular motor assisted transport along…
We studied phase separation in a particle interacting system under a large drive along x. We here identify the basic growth mechanisms, and demonstrate time self-similarity, finite-size scaling, as well as other interesting features of both…
Particles with directional interactions are promising building blocks for new functional materials and may serve as models for biological structures. Mutually attractive nanoparticles that are deformable due to flexible surface groups, for…
A big challenge in current biology is to understand the exact self-organization mechanism underlying complex multi-physics coupling developmental processes. With multiscale computations of from subcellular gene expressions to cell…
Synchronous and directed ciliary beating in trachea allows transport and ejection of virus and dust from the body. This ciliary function depends on the coordinated configuration of basal bodies (root of cilia) in apical cell membrane.…