Related papers: Molecular adhesion assay for biopolymer systems
Cell membranes interact via anchored receptor and ligand molecules. Central questions on cell adhesion concern the binding affinity of these membrane-anchored molecules, the mechanisms leading to the receptor-ligand domains observed during…
Among very low disorder systems of condensed matter, the high mobility two-dimensional electron gas confined in gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide heterostructures holds a privileged position as platform for the discovery of new…
We characterize vesicle adhesion onto homogeneous substrates by means of a perturbative expansion around the infinite adhesion limit, where curvature elasticity effects are absent. At first order in curvature elasticity, we determine…
Extra-large deformations in ultra-soft elastic materials are ubiquitous, yet systematic studies and methods to understand the mechanics of such huge strains are lacking. Here we investigate this complex problem systematically with a simple…
Active microrheology is a valuable tool to determine viscoelastic properties of polymer networks. Observing the beads response to the excitation of a reference leads to dynamic and morphological information of the material. In this work we…
Surface-adhesion and stiffness of underlying substrates mediate geometry, mechanics and self-organization of bacterial colonies. Recent studies have qualitatively indicted that stiffness may impact bacterial attachment, yet the variation of…
Acoustic manipulation in microfluidic devices enables contactless handling of biological cells for Lab-on-Chip applications. This paper analyzes the controllability of multi-particle systems in a one-dimensional acoustic standing wave…
The mechanical properties of single fibres are highly important in the paper production process to produce and adjust properties for the favoured fields of application. The description of mechanical properties is usually characterised via…
Recent single-molecule pulling experiments have shown how it is possible to manipulate RNA molecules using optical tweezers force microscopy. We investigate a minimal model for the experimental setup which includes a RNA molecule connected…
We present a multi-scale model to study the attachment of spherical particles with a rigid core, coated with binding ligands and in equilibrium with the surrounding, quiescent fluid medium. This class of fluid-immersed adhesion is…
The functionality of adhesives relies on their response under the application of a load. Yet, it has remained a challenge to quantitatively relate the macroscopic dynamics of peeling to the dissipative processes inside the adhesive layer.…
In presence of non-adsorbing polymers, colloidal particles experience ubiquitous attractive interactions induced by depletion forces. Here, we measure the depletion interaction between a pair of microtubule filaments using a method that…
Soft elastic composite materials containing particulate rigid inclusions in a soft elastic matrix are candidates for developing soft actuators or tunable damping devices. The possibility to reversibly drive the rigid inclusions within such…
Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) has a great potential as a tool to characterize mechanical and morphological properties of living cells; these properties have been shown to correlate with cells' fate and patho-physiological state in view of…
We propose a three dimensional mechanical model of embryonic tissue dynamics. Mechanically coupled adherent cells are represented as particles interconnected with elastic beams which can exert non-central forces and torques. Tissue…
This mini review focuses on conductance measurements through molecular junctions containing few tens of molecules, which are fabricated along two approaches: (i) conducting atomic force microscope contacting a self-assembled monolayers on…
We present a statistical mechanical study of stiff polymers, motivated by experiments on actin filaments and the considerable current interest in polymer networks. We obtain simple, approximate analytical forms for the force-extension…
We present a study combining experimental measurements, theoretical analysis, and simulations to investigate core-shell microcapsules interacting with a solid boundary, with a particular focus on understanding the short-range potential…
Mesoscale molecular assemblies on the cell surface, such as cilia and filopodia, integrate information, control transport and amplify signals. Synthetic devices mimicking these structures could sensitively monitor these cellular functions…
Mechanical coupling between a cell and substrate relies on focal adhesions, clusters of adhesion proteins linking stress fibers (bundles of actin proteins) inside the cell with surrounding tissue. Focal adhesions have been demonstrated to…