Related papers: Elastic interaction between "hard'' or "soft" poin…
We study a physical model for the interaction between general inclusions bound to fluid membranes that possess finite tension, as well as the usual bending rigidity. We are motivated by an interest in proteins bound to cell membranes that…
Interactions mediated by the cell membrane between inclusions, such as membrane proteins or antimicrobial peptides, play important roles in their biological activity. They also constitute a fascinating challenge for physicists, since they…
We analytically study membrane mediated interactions between inclusions embedded in a tubular membrane. We model inclusions as constraints coupled to the curvature tensor of the membrane tube. First, as special test cases, we analyze the…
Up-down asymmetric inclusions impose a local, spontaneous curvature to an elastic membrane. When several of them are inserted in a same membrane, they feel effective forces mediated by the membrane, both of elastic and entropic nature.…
We consider an elastic composite material containing particulate inclusions in a soft elastic matrix that is bounded by a rigid wall, e.g., the substrate. If such a composite serves as a soft actuator, forces are imposed on or induced…
Soft composite solids are made of inclusions dispersed within soft matrices. They are ubiquitous in nature and form the basis of many biological tissues. In the field of materials science, synthetic soft composites are promising candidates…
This work is devoted to the analysis of the interplay between internal variables and high-contrast microstructure in inelastic solids. As a concrete case-study, by means of variational techniques, we derive a macroscopic description for an…
Considering two rigid conical inclusions embedded in a membrane subject to lateral tension, we study the membrane-mediated interaction between these inclusions that originates from the hat-shaped membrane deformations associated with the…
The aim of this work is to revisit the phenomenological theory of the interaction between membrane inclusions, mediated by the membrane fluctuations. We consider the case where the inclusions are separated by distances larger than their…
Embedding rigid inclusions into elastic matrix materials is a procedure of high practical relevance, for instance for the fabrication of elastic composite materials. We theoretically analyze the following situation. Rigid spherical…
We model membrane proteins as anisotropic objects characterized by symmetric-traceless tensors and determine the coupling between these order-parameters and membrane curvature. We consider the interactions between transmembrane proteins…
Biological membranes are dynamic surfaces whose shape and function are critically influenced by protein inclusions (PIs). While membrane deformations induced by PIs have been extensively studied in the small-deformation regime, a variety of…
We study the collective behavior of inclusions inducing local anisotropic curvatures in a flexible fluid membrane. The N-body interaction energy for general anisotropic inclusions is calculated explicitly, including multi-body interactions.…
We study membrane-protein interactions and membrane-mediated protein-protein interactions by Monte Carlo simulations of a generic coarse-grained model for lipid bilayers with cylindrical hydrophobic inclusions. The strength of the…
The interplay of membrane proteins is vital for many biological processes, such as cellular transport, cell division, and signal transduction between nerve cells. Theoretical considerations have led to the idea that the membrane itself…
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…
Biological cells in soft materials can be modeled as anisotropic force contraction dipoles. The corresponding elastic interaction potentials are long-ranged ($\sim 1/r^3$ with distance $r$) and depend sensitively on elastic constants,…
We consider some basic principles of fluid-induced lubrication at soft interfaces. In particular, we show how the presence of a soft substrate leads to an increase in the physical separation between surfaces sliding past each other. By…
The fluctuation-induced interaction between two rod-like, rigid inclusions in a fluid vesicle is studied by means of canonical ensemble Monte Carlo simulations. The vesicle membrane is represented by a triangulated network of hard spheres.…
The interaction potential between supported floating bilayers has been determined by grazing incidence specular and off-specular scattering using synchrotron radiation. Our measurements demonstrate that floating bilayers are significantly…