Related papers: Physical limits on galvanotaxis
Transient absorption microscopy measures excited-state kinetics based on the imaginary part of the pump-induced perturbation to the complex refractive index, i.e. $\Im \{\Delta\mathcal N\}$, with applications in both materials and…
We experimentally demonstrate a dipolar polariton based electric field sensor. We tune and optimize the sensitivity of the sensor by varying the dipole moment of polaritons. We show polariton interactions play an important role in…
Voltage distribution in sub-cellular micro-domains such as neuronal synapses, small protrusions or dendritic spines regulates the opening and closing of ionic channels, energy production and thus cellular homeostasis and excitability. Yet…
Green algae of the $Volvocine$ lineage, spanning from unicellular $Chlamydomonas$ to vastly larger $Volvox$, are models for the study of the evolution of multicellularity, flagellar dynamics, and developmental processes. Phototactic…
Wearable human activity sensors developed in the past decade show a distinct trend of becoming thinner and more imperceptible while retaining their electrical qualities, with graphene e-tattoos, as the ultimate example. A persistent…
The electrocardiogram (ECG) is a well-known technique used to diagnose cardiac diseases. To acquire the spatial signal characteristics from the thorax, multiple electrodes are commonly used. Displacements of electrodes affect the signal…
Cells can sense and respond to mechanical signals over relatively long distances across fibrous extracellular matrices. Here, we explore all of the key factors that influence long range force transmission in cell-populated collagen…
The study of electronic transitions within a molecule connected to the absorption or emission of light is a common task in the process of the design of new materials. The transitions are complex quantum mechanical processes and a detailed…
We propose an array of ultracold polar molecules as a platform to study alignment transport between molecules. We envision a polar molecule being aligned with an intense off-resonant laser field whose alignment migrates to a nearby molecule…
Biophotonic signaling via axons has been proposed as a potential mode of neural communication, where information might be encoded not only in photon number and wavelength but also in polarization. Although earlier computational studies have…
In this work, we use Molecular Dynamics and Lattice-Boltzmann simulations to study the properties of charged Janus particles in an electric field. We show that for relatively small net charge and thick electrostatic diffuse layer mobilities…
Cell polarization requires redistribution of specific proteins to the nascent front and back of a eukarytotic cell. Among these proteins are Rac and Rho, members of the small GTPase family that regulate the actin cytoskeleton. Rac promotes…
Motile biological cells in tissue often display the phenomenon of durotaxis, i.e. they tend to move towards stiffer parts of substrate tissue. The mechanism for this behavior is not completely understood. We consider simplified models for…
Directing extracellular vesicles (EVs), such as exosomes and microvesicles, toward specific cells is an emerging focus in nanomedicine, owing to their natural role as carriers of proteins, RNAs, and drugs. EVs can be manipulated by external…
Cell polarity refers to the spatial asymmetry of molecules on the cell membrane. Altschuler, Angenent, Wang and Wu have proposed a stochastic model for studying the emergence of polarity in the presence of feedback between molecules. We…
Diverse organisms exploit the geomagnetic field (GMF) for migration. Migrating birds employ an intrinsically quantum mechanical mechanism for detecting the geomagnetic field: absorption of a blue photon generates a radical pair whose two…
When a single cell senses a chemical gradient and chemotaxes, stochastic receptor-ligand binding can be a fundamental limit to the cell's accuracy. For clusters of cells responding to gradients, however, there is a critical difference: even…
The excitation of many cells and tissues is associated with cell mechanical changes. The evidence presented herein corroborates that single cells deform during an action potential (AP). It is demonstrated that excitation of plant cells…
The Drosophila melanogaster embryo, an elongated multi-nucleated cell, is a classical model system for eukaryotic development and morphogenesis. Recent work has shown that bulk cytoplasmic flows, driven by cortical contractions along the…
Mathematical and computational models can assist in gaining an understanding of cell behavior at many levels of organization. Here, we review models in the literature that focus on eukaryotic cell motility at 3 size scales: intracellular…