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We propose a simple mathematical model to describe the mechanical relaxation of cells within a curved epithelial tissue layer represented by an arbitrary curve in two-dimensional space. This model generalises previous one-dimensional models…
We review recent computer simulation studies of undulating lipid bilayers. Theoretical interpretations of such fluctuating membranes are most commonly based on generalized Helfrich-type elastic models, with additional contributions of local…
Intracellular protein patterns regulate a variety of vital cellular processes such as cell division and motility, which often involve dynamic changes of cell shape. These changes in cell shape may in turn affect the dynamics of…
We discuss the role coarse-grained models play in the investigation of the structure and thermodynamics of bilayer membranes, and we place them in the context of alternative approaches. Because they reduce the degrees of freedom and employ…
Lipid membranes regulate the flow of materials and information between cells and their organelles. Further, lipid composition and morphology can play a key role in regulating a variety of biological processes. For example, viral uptake,…
In this work, we present a computational formulation based on continuum mechanics to study the interaction of fluid membranes embedded with semiflexible filaments. This is motivated by systems in membrane biology, such as cytoskeletal…
Cells are defined by lipid membranes that differ in their structure across the tree of life. While the membranes of most bacteria and eukaryotes consist of single-headed bilayer lipids, the membranes of archaea are composed of mixtures of…
A recently introduced numerical scheme for calculating self-diffusion coefficients of solid objects embedded in lipid bilayer membranes is extended to enable calculation of hydrodynamic interactions between multiple objects. The method is…
An integrated mechanical model for fiber-laden membranes is presented and representative predictions of relevance to cellulose ordering and orientation in the plant cell wall are presented. The model describes nematic liquid crystalline…
The ability to computationally generate novel yet physically foldable protein structures could lead to new biological discoveries and new treatments targeting yet incurable diseases. Despite recent advances in protein structure prediction,…
Biological membranes are elastic media in which the presence of a transmembrane protein leads to local bilayer deformation. The energetics of deformation allow two membrane proteins in close proximity to influence each other's equilibrium…
A cell membrane can be simply regarded as composite material consisting of lipid bilayer, membrane cytoskeleton beneath lipid bilayer, and proteins embedded in lipid bilayer and linked with membrane cytoskeleton if one only concerns its…
Many types of peripheral and transmembrane proteins can sense and generate membrane curvature. Laterally isotropic proteins and crescent proteins with twofold rotational symmetry, such as Bin/Amphiphysin/Rvs superfamily proteins, have been…
The theory of irreversible thermodynamics for arbitrarily curved lipid membranes is presented here. The coupling between elastic bending and irreversible processes such as intra-membrane lipid flow, intra-membrane phase transitions, and…
The deformation of cellular membranes regulates trafficking processes, such as exocytosis and endocytosis. Classically, the Helfrich continuum model is used to characterize the forces and mechanical parameters that cells tune to accomplish…
A physical scenario accounting for the existence of size-limited submicrometric domains in cell membranes is proposed. It is based on the numerical investigation of the counterpart, in lipidic membranes where proteins are diffusing, of the…
Many essential cellular processes, including cell division and the establishment of cell polarity during embryogenesis, are regulated by pattern-forming proteins. These proteins often need to bind to a substrate, such as the cell membrane,…
The adhesion bonds connecting a lipid bilayer to an underlying surface may undergo a condensation transition resulting from an interplay between a short range attractive potential between them, and a long range fluctuation-induced potential…
The dynamical response of a lipid membrane to a local perturbation of its molecular symmetry is investigated theoretically. A density asymmetry between the two membrane leaflets is predominantly released by in-plane lipid diffusion or…
Since its foundations, more than one hundred years ago, the field of structural biology has strived to understand and analyze the properties of molecules and their interactions by studying the structure that they take in 3D space. However,…