Related papers: Intrinsically Disordered Proteins at the Nano-scal…
The asymmetry in the shapes of folded and unfolded states are probed using two parameters, one being a measure of the sphericity and the other that describes the shape. For the folded states, whose interiors are densely packed, the radii of…
In this paper we show the existence of three dimensional rigid, and thus unfoldable, lattice conformations. The structure we found has 450+ bonds, and we provide a computer assisted proof of the existence of such structures. The existence…
Protein one-dimensional (1D) structures such as secondary structure and contact number provide intuitive pictures to understand how the native three-dimensional (3D) structure of a protein is encoded in the amino acid sequence. However, it…
Proteins are sequences of amino acids that serve as the basic building blocks of living organisms. Despite rapidly growing databases documenting structural and functional information for various protein sequences, our understanding of…
The ability to control the crystallization behaviour (including its absence) of particles, be they biomolecules such as globular proteins, inorganic colloids, nanoparticles, or metal atoms in an alloy, is of both fundamental and…
Continuum elasticity is a powerful tool applicable in a broad range of physical systems and phenomena. Yet, understanding how and on what scales material disorder may lead to the breakdown of continuum elasticity is not fully understood. We…
In living cells, proteins combine 3D bulk diffusion and 1D sliding along the DNA to reach a target faster. This process is known as facilitated diffusion, and we investigate its dynamics in the physiologically relevant case of confined DNA.…
In cell membranes, proteins and lipids diffuse in a highly crowded and heterogeneous landscape, where aggregates and dense domains of proteins or lipids obstruct the path of diffusing molecules. In general, hindered motion gives rise to…
Disordered systems like liquids, gels, glasses, or granular materials are not only ubiquitous in daily life and in industrial applications but they are also crucial for the mechanical stability of cells or the transport of chemical and…
Proteins are a matter of dual nature. As a physical object, a protein molecule is a folded chain of amino acids with multifarious biochemistry. But it is also an instantiation along an evolutionary trajectory determined by the function…
Colloidal gels are prime examples of functional materials exhibiting disordered, amorphous, yet meta-stable forms. They maintain stability through short-range attractive forces and their material properties are tunable by external forces.…
We propose a simple phenomenological model for describing the conformational dynamics of biopolymers via the nonlinearity-induced buckling and collapse (i.e. coiling up) instabilities. Taking into account the coupling between the internal…
At the microscopic level, plastic flow of a jammed, disordered material consists of a series of particle rearrangements that cannot be reversed by subsequent deformation. An infinitesimal deformation of the same material has no…
Natural protein molecules are exceptional polymers. Encoded in apparently random strings of amino-acids, these objects perform clear physical tasks that are rare to find by simple chance. Accurate folding, specific binding, powerful…
Proteins are the fundamental macromolecules that play diverse and crucial roles in all living matter and have tremendous implications in healthcare, manufacturing, and biotechnology. Their functions are largely determined by the sequences…
Confinement can significantly alter fluid properties, offering potential for specific technological applications. However, achieving precise control over the structural complexity of confined fluids and soft matter remains challenging, as…
Folding and aggregation of proteins, the interaction between proteins and membranes, as well as the adsorption of organic soft matter to inorganic solid substrates belong to the most interesting challenges in understanding structure and…
The functionality of proteins is related to their structure in the native state. Protein structures are made up of emergent building blocks of helices and almost planar sheets. A simple coarse-grained geometrical model of a flexible tube…
While the physics of disordered packing in non-growing systems is well understood, unexplored phenomena can emerge when packing takes place in growing domains. We study the arrangements of pigment cells (chromatophores) on squid skin as a…
All human diseases involve proteins, yet our current tools to characterize and quantify them are limited. To better elucidate proteins across space, time, and molecular composition, we provide provocative projections for technologies to…