Related papers: Phase field model for phagocytosis dynamics
The phase field crystal (PFC) model captures the elastic and topological properties of crystals with a single scalar field at small undercooling. At large undercooling, new foam-like behavior emerges. We characterize this foam phase of the…
The initiation of directional cell motion requires symmetry breaking that can happen both with or without external stimuli. During cell crawling, forces generated by the cytoskeleton and their transmission through mechanosensitive adhesions…
Microtubules are dynamic intracellular fibers that have been observed experimentally to undergo spontaneous self-alignment. We formulate a 3D mean-field theory model to analyze the nematic phase transition of microtubules growing and…
We study nonequilibrium phase transitions of reaction-diffusion systems defined on randomly diluted lattices, focusing on the transition across the lattice percolation threshold. To develop a theory for this transition, we combine classical…
I use the method of classical density-functional theory in the weighted-density approximation of Tarazona to investigate the phase diagram and the interface structure of a two-dimensional lattice-gas model with three phases -- vapour,…
A diffuse-interface model for microstructure with an arbitrary number of components and phases was developed from basic thermodynamic and kinetic principles and formalized within a variational framework. The model includes a composition…
We apply a simple dynamical density functional theory, the phase-field crystal (PFC) model of overdamped conservative dynamics, to address polymorphism, crystal nucleation, and crystal growth in the diffusion-controlled limit. We refine the…
The motion of a eukaryotic cell presents a variety of interesting and challenging problems from both a modeling and a computational perspective. The processes span many spatial scales (from molecular to tissue) as well as disparate time…
Real-life bacteria often swim in complex fluids, but our understanding of the interactions between bacteria and complex surroundings is still evolving. In this work, rod-like \textit{Bacillus subtilis} swims in a quasi-2D environment with…
We extend the phase-field approach to model the solidification of faceted materials. Our approach consists of using an approximate gamma-plot with rounded cusps that can approach arbitrarily closely the true gamma-plot with sharp cusps that…
In this work, we analytically investigate a multi-component system for describing phase separation and damage processes in solids. The model consists of a parabolic diffusion equation of fourth order for the concentration coupled with an…
We present a fully Eulerian hybrid immersed-boundary/phase-field model to simulate wetting and contact line motion over any arbitrary geometry. The solid wall is described with a volume-penalisation ghost-cell immersed boundary whereas the…
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…
We investigate the convergence of solutions of a recently proposed diffuse interface/phase field model for cell blebbing by means of matched asymptotic expansions. It is a biological phenomenon that increasingly attracts attention by both…
We derive a phase field crystal model that couples the diffusive evolution of a microscopic structure with the fast dynamics of a macroscopic velocity field, explicitly accounting for the relaxation of elastic excitations. This model…
We review our recent modeling of crystal nucleation and polycrystalline growth using a phase field theory. First, we consider the applicability of phase field theory for describing crystal nucleation in a model hard sphere fluid. It is…
The phage $\lambda$ infection of an \textit{E. coli} cell has become a paradigm for understanding the molecular processes involved in gene expression and cell signaling. This system provides an example of a genetic switch, as cells with…
Understanding how cells escape from embedded spheroids requires a mechanical framework linking stress generation within cells, across cells, and between cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM). We develop such a framework by…
A coupled phase-field and hydrodynamic model is introduced to describe a two-phase, weakly compressible smectic (layered phase) in contact with an isotropic fluid of different density. A non-conserved smectic order parameter is coupled to a…
Directional solidification of water-based solutions has emerged as a versatile technique for templating hierarchical porous materials. However, the underlying mechanisms of pattern formation remain incompletely understood. In this work, we…