Related papers: Chiral interactions between tropocollagen molecule…
Collagen fibrils are the building block of many biological tissues, which viability depend on the fibrils properties. Altered properties of collagen fibrils are central to the appearance of many diseases, while physiological or native…
The fields of mechanobiology and biomechanics are expanding our understanding of the complex behavior of soft biological tissues across multiple scales. Given the intricate connection between tissue microstructure and its macroscale…
Membrane particles such as proteins and lipids organize into zones that perform unique functions. Here, I introduce a topological and category-theoretic framework to represent particle and zone intra-scale interactions and inter-scale…
Collagen is a key structural protein in the human body, which undergoes mineralization during the formation of hard tissues. Earlier studies have described the mechanical behavior of bone at different scales highlighting material features…
We report the imaging of tendon, a connective tissue rich in collagen type I proteins, with Interferometric Second Harmonic Generation (I-SHG) microscopy. We observed that the noncentrosymmetric structural organization can be maintained…
Cross-links are considered to be a key component of collagen fibrils as they can change the fibrillar behavior in various ways. Advanced-Glycation Endproducts (AGEs), one particular type of cross-links, have been shown to accumulate and…
Molecular chirality leads to a wonderful variety of equilibrium structures, from the simple cholesteric phase to the twist-grain-boundary phases, and it is responsible for interesting and technologically important materials like…
Advanced-Glycation-Endproducts (AGEs) are known to be a major cause of impaired tissue material properties. In collagen fibrils, the main building component of human tissue, these AGEs appear as fibrillar cross-links. When AGEs accumulate…
Lipid rafts are hypothesized to facilitate protein interaction, tension regulation, and trafficking in biological membranes, but the mechanisms responsible for their formation and maintenance are not clear. Insights into many other…
Healthy cartilage is a remarkable tissue, able to withstand tens of millions of loading cycles with minimal damage. While much is known about the structural origins of its compressive mechanics, how composition determines its mechanical…
Collagenolytic degradation is a process fundamental to tissue remodeling. The microarchitecture of collagen fibril networks changes during development, aging, and disease. Such changes to microarchitecture are often accompanied by changes…
Cells contain elaborate and interconnected networks of protein polymers which make up the cytoskeleton. The cytoskeleton governs the internal positioning and movement of vesicles and organelles, and controls dynamic changes in cell…
Recent studies in mammalian hearts show that left ventricular wall thickening is an important mechanism for systolic ejection and that during contraction the cardiac muscle develops significant stresses in the muscular cross-fiber…
Cytoskeletal motors known as motor proteins are molecules that drive cellular transport along several parallel cytoskeletal filaments and support many biological processes. Experimental evidences suggest that they interact with the nearest…
A network of semiflexible biopolymers, known as the cytoskeleton, and molecular motors play fundamental mechanical roles in cellular activities. The cytoskeletal response to forces generated by molecular motors is profoundly linked to…
The presence of chirality in the main molecules of life may well be not just a structural artifact, but of pure biological advantage. The possibility of the existence of a phenomenon of a special mode of interaction, labeled as "chiral…
The hierarchical triple-helix structure of collagen type I, Col I, is essential for extracellular matrix support and integrity. However, current reconstruction strategies face challenges such as chain mismatch, preventing proper fibril…
Type I collagen fibrils have circular cross sections with radii mostly distributed in between 50 and 100 nm and are characterized by an axial banding pattern with a period of 67 nm. The constituent long molecules of those fibrils, the…
Compliant environments can mediate interactions between mechanically active cells like fibroblasts. Starting with a phenomenological model for the behaviour of single cells, we use extensive Monte Carlo simulations to predict non-trivial…
Cartilage is a connective tissue that covers the surfaces of bones in joints and provides a smooth gliding surface for movement. It is characterized by specific biophysical properties that allow it to withstand compressive loads, distribute…