Related papers: Spiralling molecular structures and chiral selecti…
Chiral photonics provides powerful routes for controlling the light handedness, yet nonlinear chiral responses are typically associated with intricate three-dimensional systems. Here, we demonstrate that strong nonlinear chirality can…
We develop methods for investigating protein drift-diffusion dynamics in heterogeneous cell membranes and the roles played by geometry, diffusion, chemical kinetics, and phase separation. Our hybrid stochastic numerical methods combine…
We describe a complete methodology to bridge the scales between nanoscale Molecular Dynamics and (micrometer) mesoscale Monte Carlo simulations in lipid membranes and vesicles undergoing phase separation, in which curving molecular species…
A common mechanism for intracellular transport is the use of controlled deformations of the membrane to create spherical or tubular buds. While the basic physical properties of homogeneous membranes are relatively well-known, the effects of…
The inner mitochondrial membrane has been shown to have a novel structure that contains tubular components whose radii are on the order of 10 nm as well as comparatively flat regions. The structural organization of mitochondria is important…
Eukaryotic cells possess a sensible chemical compass allowing them to orient toward sources of soluble chemicals. The extracellular chemical signal triggers separation of the cell membrane into two domains populated by different…
"Necks" are features of lipid membranes characterized by an uniquley large curvature, functioning as bridges between different compartments. These features are ubiquitous in the life-cycle of the cell and instrumental in processes such as…
A series of simulations aimed at elucidating the self-assembly dynamics of spherical virus capsids is described. This little-understood phenomenon is a fascinating example of the complex processes that occur in the simplest of organisms.…
Most animal body plans have some degree of left-right asymmetry. This chirality at the tissue and organ level is often assumed to originate from the intrinsic handedness of biological molecules. How this handedness might be transferred from…
Moir\'e superstructures arising at twisted 2D interfaces have recently attracted the attention of the scientific community due to exotic quantum states and unique mechanical and tribological behaviors that they exhibit. Here, we predict the…
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,…
Symmetry is closely intertwined with the function, genetics, and chemical properties of multiprotein complexes. Here, we explore the relation between structural symmetry and the ability of membrane proteins to sense and induce membrane…
This study investigates the influence of chirality, viscous effects, and confinement geometry on the flow dynamics and defect structures of cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) using numerical simulations. As chiral strength increases,…
We present a continuum model trained on molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for cellular membranes composed of an arbitrary number of lipid types. The model is constructed within the formalism of dynamic density functional theory and can be…
The shell map is a very simple representation of the structure of foams, combining the geometrical (random tiling) and dynamical (loss of information from an arbitrary cell out) aspects of disorder. The structure is built from the central…
The physical gelation of colloids produces elastic structures that are commonly used to stabilize complex fluids in multiple industries. However, the ability to control the level of elastic modulus of these materials is limited by the…
Wrinkling instabilities of thin elastic sheets can be used to generate periodic structures over a wide range of length scales. Viscosity of the thin elastic sheet or its surrounding medium has been shown to be responsible for dynamic…
Biomembranes consisting of two opposing phospholipid monolayers, which comprise the so-called lipid bilayer, are largely responsible for the dual solid-fluid behavior of individual cells and viruses. Quantifying the mechanical…
Recent experiments suggest that the interplay between cells and the mechanics of their substrate gives rise to a diversity of morphological and migrational behaviors. Here, we develop a Cellular Potts Model of polarizing cells on a…
We study a dynamical curvature instability caused by a local chemical modification of a phospholipid membrane. In our experiments, a basic solution is microinjected close to a giant unilamellar vesicle, which induces a local chemical…