Related papers: Glycocalyx Cleavage Boosts Erythrocytes Aggregatio…
Myxococcus xanthus is a model organism for studying bacterial social behaviors due to its ability to form complex multi-cellular structures. Knowledge of M. xanthus surface gliding motility and the mechanisms that coordinate it are…
The prevalence of multicellular organisms is due in part to their ability to form complex structures. How cells pack in these structures is a fundamental biophysical issue, underlying their functional properties. However, much remains…
Cancer cells maintain a high level of aerobic glycolysis (the Warburg effect), which is associated with their rapid proliferation. Many studies have reported that the suppression of glycolysis and activation of oxidative phosphorylation can…
Effects of mechanical stress on the permeability of vascular endothelium are important to normal physiology and may be critical in the development of atherosclerosis, where they can account for the patchy arterial distribution of the…
Biological tissues have been observed to display emergent fluid-like properties, owing to physical interactions between cells. However, it remains unclear in general how these fluid-like properties affect tissue structure and function.…
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…
Macroscopic properties of suspensions, such as those composed of globular particles (e.g., colloidal or macromolecular), can be tuned by controlling the equilibrium aggregation of the particles. We examine how aggregation -- and, hence,…
As the beneficial effects of curcumin have often been reported to be limited to its small concentrations, we have undertaken a study to find the aggregation properties of curcumin in water by varying the number of monomers. Our molecular…
Atherosclerotic plaques are fatty growths in artery walls that cause heart attacks and strokes. Plaque formation is orchestrated by macrophages that are recruited to the artery wall to consume and remove blood-derived lipids, such as…
Fatty acids (FAs) are crucial energy metabolites, signalling molecules, and membrane building blocks for a wide range of organisms. Adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) is the first and presumingly most crucial regulator of FA release from…
Collagen fibrils, cable-like assemblies of long biological molecules, are dominant components of connective tissues. Their determinant morphological and functional roles motivated a large number of studies concerning their formation and…
Enzymes have been recently proposed to have mechanical activity associated with their chemical activity. In a number of recent studies, it has been reported that enzymes undergo enhanced diffusion in the presence of their corresponding…
In living cells, molecular motors create activity that enhances the diffusion of particles throughout the cytoplasm, and not just ones attached to the motors. We demonstrate initial steps toward creating artificial cells that mimic this…
In water electrolysis, bubbles form on the electrode and interact through processes such as collision and coalescence. However, the impact of bubble coalescence a fundamental process governing electrolytic bubble behaviour-on electrolysis…
Enzymes are on the front lines of evolution. All living organisms rely on highly efficient, specific enzymes for growth, sustenance, and reproduction; and many diseases are a consequence of a mutation on an enzyme that affects its catalytic…
The mechanical integrity of arteries is of prime importance, for a proper oxygen and nutrients delivery to all organs. To optimize their mechanical properties, healthy arteries exhibit a complex hierarchical microstructure which ensures a…
Under special conditions bacteria excrete an attractant and aggregate. The high density regions initially collapse into cylindrical structures, which subsequently destabilize and break up into spherical aggregates. This paper presents a…
Biomolecular condensates are cellular phase-separated droplets that usually exhibit a viscoelastic mechanical response. A behavior rationalized by modeling the complex molecules that make up a condensate as stickers and spacers, which…
Channel proteins, that selectively conduct molecules across cell membranes, often exhibit an asymmetric structure. By means of a stochastic model, we argue that channel asymmetry in the presence of non-equilibrium fluctuations, fueled by…
The dynamics of cellular aggregates is driven by the interplay of mechanochemical processes and cellular activity. Although deterministic models may capture mechanical features, local chemical fluctuations trigger random cell responses,…