Related papers: Flexoelectricity and the Entropic Force between Fl…
Fluctuations are inherent to biological systems, arising from the stochastic nature of molecular interactions, and influence various aspects of system behavior, stability, and robustness. These fluctuations can be categorized as intrinsic,…
How can a collection of motile cells, each generating contractile nematic stresses in isolation, become an extensile nematic at the tissue-level? Understanding this seemingly contradictory experimental observation, which occurs irrespective…
We study the comparative importance of thermal to non-thermal fluctuations for membrane-based models in the linear regime. Our results, both in 1+1 and 2+1 dimensions, suggest that non-thermal fluctuations dominate thermal ones only when…
The flexoelectric conversion of mechanical to electrical energy in nematic liquid crystals is investigated using continuum theory. Since the electrical energy produced cannot exceed the mechanical energy supplied, and vice-versa, upper…
The elastic properties of two-component bilayer membranes are studied using a coarse grain model for amphiphilic molecules. The two species of amphiphiles considered here differ only in their length. Molecular Dynamics simulations are…
There are three regimes of cell membrane interaction with glass - Tight and loose adhesion, separated by repulsion. Explicitly including hydration, this paper evaluates the pressure between the surfaces as functions of distance for…
Two-dimensional sliding ferroelectrics, with their unique stacking degrees of freedom, offer a different approach to manipulate polarization by interlayer sliding. Bending sliding ferroelectrics inevitably leads to interlayer sliding…
We study the shapes of elastic membranes under the simultaneous exertion of tensile and compressive forces when the translational symmetry along the tension direction is broken. We predict a multitude of novel morphological phases in…
We study the surface fluctuations of a tissue with a dynamics dictated by cell-rearrangement, cell-division, and cell-death processes. Surface fluctuations are calculated in the homeostatic state, where cell division and cell death…
The transport of individual entities through interconnected structures is a process of practical relevance both in biology and technology. Examples are given by diffusive dynamics of molecules in porous structures. In soft environments,…
We study the elastic properties of a two-dimensional fluctuating surface whose area density is allowed to deviate from its optimal (Schulman) value. The behavior of such a surface is determined by an interplay between the area-dependent…
Cell membranes are studded with protrusions that were thoroughly analyzed with electron microscopy. However, the nanometer-scale three-dimensional motions generated by cell membranes to fit the topography of foreign surfaces and initiate…
Equilibrium self-assembly and conventional materials processing techniques fall far short of mimicking dynamic self-actuating processes that are commonplace throughout biology. To bridge the gap between living and synthetic matter, we study…
Motivated by the still ongoing debate about the various possible meanings of the term surface tension of bilayer membranes, we present here a detailed discussion that explains the differences between the "intrinsic", "renormalized", and…
The theories of flexoelectricity and that of nonlocal elasticity are closely related, and are often considered together when modeling strain-gradient effects in solids. Here I show, based on a first-principles lattice-dynamical analysis,…
We study the influence of thermal fluctuations on the fracture of elastic networks, via simulations of the uniaxial extension of central-force spring networks with varying rigidity, i.e. connectivity. Studying their failure response, both…
We consider the lateral diffusion of a protein interacting with the curvature of the membrane. The interaction energy is minimized if the particle is at a membrane position with a certain curvature that agrees with the spontaneous curvature…
Based on the fluctuation-electromagnetic theory, we have calculated the retarded force of attraction, frictional moment and heating rate of a neutral particle rotating near a polarizable surface. The particle and surface are characterized…
Many lipid membrane-mediated transport processes--such as mechanically-gated channel activation and solute transport--involve structural and dynamical features on membrane thickness length scales. Most existing membrane models, however,…
Receptor-mediated endocytosis requires that the energy of adhesion overcomes the deformation energy of the plasma membrane. The resulting driving force is balanced by dissipative forces, leading to deterministic dynamical equations. While…