Related papers: Molecular sorting on a fluctuating membrane
We assess experimentally the ability of a simple flow-based sorting device, recently proposed numerically by [Zhu et al., Soft Matter, 2014, 10, 7705-7711], to separate capsules according to their stiffness. The device consists of a single…
Biological membranes are complex, dynamic structures essential for cellular compartmentalization, signaling, and mechanical integrity. The molecular organization of eukaryotic membranes has been extensively studied, including the lipid…
We analyze the non-equilibrium shape fluctuations of giant unilamellar vesicles encapsulating motile bacteria. Owing to bacteria--membrane collisions, we experimentally observe a significant increase in the magnitude of membrane…
The partitioning of small molecules in cell membranes---a key parameter for pharmaceutical applications---typically relies on experimentally-available bulk partitioning coefficients. Computer simulations provide a structural resolution of…
Spatial organisation is a hallmark of all living cells, and recreating it in model systems is a necessary step in the creation of synthetic cells. It is therefore of both fundamental and practical interest to better understand the basic…
Biological membranes are host to proteins and molecules which may form domain-like structures resulting in spatially-varying material properties. Vesicles with such heterogeneous membranes can exhibit intricate shapes at equilibrium and…
Guided by extensive numerical simulations, we propose a microfluidic device that can sort elastic capsules by their deformability. The device consists of a duct embedded with a semi-cylindrical obstacle, and a diffuser which further…
Recent research has shown that motile cells can adapt their mode of propulsion to the mechanical properties of the environment in which they find themselves--crawling in some environments while swimming in others. The latter can involve…
In this paper, we bring together our efforts in identifying and understanding nonequilibrium phase segregation driven by active processes in the living cell, with special focus on the segregation of cell membrane components driven by active…
Recent experiments have measured the critical Casimir force acting on a colloid immersed in a binary liquid mixture near its continuous demixing phase transition and exposed to a chemically structured substrate. Motivated by these…
An accurate description of the structure and dynamics of interfacial water is essential for phospholipid membranes, since it determines their function and their interaction with other molecules. Here we consider water confined in stacked…
We have numerically investigated the behavior of driven non-cohesive granular media and found that two fixed large intruder particles, immersed in a sea of small particles, experience, in addition to a short range depletion force, a long…
In experiments on model membranes, a formation of large domains of different lipid composition is readily observed. However, no such phase separation is observed in the membranes of intact cells. Instead, a structure of small transient…
We study the behavior of fluids, confined by geometrically structured substrates, upon approaching a critical point at T = Tc in their bulk phase diagram. As generic substrate structures periodic arrays of wedges and ridges are considered.…
We report results of long timescale adaptive kinetic Monte Carlo simulations aimed at identifying possible molecular reordering processes on both proton-disordered and ordered (Fletcher) basal plane (0001) surfaces of hexagonal ice. The…
Cholesterol (CHOL) drives lipid segregation and is thus a key player for the formation of lipid rafts and followingly for the ability of a cell to, e.g., enable selective agglomeration of proteins. The lipid segregation is driven by…
We investigate how an externally imposed curvature influences lipid segregation on two-phase-coexistent membranes. We show that the bending-modulus contrast of the two phases and the curvature act together to yield a reduced effective line…
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…
Membrane tubulation is a ubiquitous process that occurs both at the plasma membrane and on the membranes of intracellular organelles. These tubulation events are known to be mediated by forces applied on the membrane either due to motor…
Casimir forces in a critical media are produced by spatial suppression of order parameter fluctuations. In this paper we address the question how fluctuations of a critical media relates the magnitude of critical Casimir interactions.…