Related papers: Mitochondrial mechanics nucleates axonal jamming a…
Recent studies have revealed the complex structure of nerve signals in axons. There is experimental evidence that the propagation of an electrical signal (action potential) is accompanied by mechanical and thermal effects. In this paper,…
The flow-driven transport of interacting micron-sized particles occurs in many soft matter systems spanning from the translocation of proteins to moving emulsions in microfluidic devices. Here we combine experiments and theory to…
Cell alignment often forms nematic order, which can lead to anomalous collective cell flow due to the so-called active force. Although it is appreciated that cell migration is driven by traction force, a quantitative evaluation of the…
Synchrony is inevitable in many oscillating systems -- from the canonical alignment of two ticking grandfather clocks, to the mutual entrainment of beating flagella or spiking neurons. Yet both biological and manmade systems provide…
Transport of rodlike particles in confinement environments of macromolecular networks plays crucial roles in many important biological processes and technological applications. The relevant understanding has been limited to thin rods with…
Despite significant advances in understanding neuronal development, a fully quantitative framework that integrates intracellular mechanisms with environmental cues during axonal growth remains incomplete. Here, we present a unified…
Resonant transport occurs when there is a matching of frequencies across some spatial medium, increasing the efficiency of shuttling particles from one reservoir to another. We demonstrate that in a periodically driven, many--body titled…
Organogenesis involves large deformations and complex shape changes that require elaborate mechanical regulation. Models of tissue biomechanics have been introduced to account for the coupling between mechanical response and biochemical…
The formation of neuron networks is a process of fundamental importance for understanding the development of the nervous system and for creating biomimetic devices for tissue engineering and neural repair. The basic process that controls…
Many biological channels perform highly selective transport without direct input of metabolic energy and without transitions from a 'closed' to an 'open' state during transport. Mechanisms of selectivity of such channels serve as an…
Convergent extension of epithelial tissue is a key motif of animal morphogenesis. On a coarse scale, cell motion resembles laminar fluid flow; yet in contrast to a fluid, epithelial cells adhere to each other and maintain the tissue layer…
Intracellular transport is vital for the proper functioning and survival of a cell. Cargo (proteins, vesicles, organelles, etc.) is transferred from its place of creation to its target locations via molecular motor assisted transport along…
Cell crawling requires the generation of intracellular forces by the cytoskeleton and their transmission to an extracellular substrate through specific adhesion molecules. Crawling cells show many features of excitable systems, such as…
We present a molecular dynamics and kinetic theory study of granular material, modeled by inelastic hard disks, fluidized by a random driving force. The focus is on collisional averages and short distance correlations in the non-equilibrium…
Amontons' law postulates a monotonic relationship between frictional force and the normal load applied to a sliding contact. This empirical rule, however, fails in systems where internal degrees of freedom - such as structural or electronic…
Contractile forces are essential for many developmental processes involving cell shape change and tissue deformation. Recent experiments on reconstituted actomyosin networks, the major component of the contractile machinery, have shown that…
Biological adhesion is a critical mechanical function of complex organisms operating at multiple scales. At the cellular scale, cell-cell adhesion is remarkably tunable to enable both cohesion and malleability during development,…
There are multiple possible origins of transport anisotropies in metals and superconductors. For instance, rotational symmetry can be spontaneously broken in the normal state as a result of electronic nematic order inducing anisotropies in…
Neural connectivity at the cellular and mesoscopic level appears very specific and is presumed to arise from highly specific developmental mechanisms. However, there are general shared features of connectivity in systems as different as the…
The aim of this work is to quantify the spatio-temporal dynamics of flow-driven amoeboid locomotion in small ($\sim$100 $\mu$m) fragments of the true slime mold \phys {\it polycephalum}. In this model organism, cellular contraction drives…