Related papers: On micro-bead mechanics with actin filaments
We study experimentally the motion of non-deformable microbeads in a linear shear flow close to a wall bearing a thin and soft polymer layer. Combining microfluidics and 3D optical tracking, we demonstrate that the steady-state bead/surface…
We present here the preliminary results obtained for two experiments on randomly agitated granular assemblies using a novel way of shaking. First we discuss the transport properties of a 2D model system undergoing classical shaking that…
Ultrasound-driven microbubbles rectify oscillatory motion into strong steady streaming flow [1, 2]. In this fluid dynamics video, we show size-dependent trapping, focusing and sorting of microparticles, utilizing the interaction between…
Recent studies on confined crystals of charged colloidal particles are reviewed, both in equilibrium and out of equilibrium. We focus in particular on direct comparisons of experiments (light scattering and microscopy) with lattice sum…
In this article, we construct and analyze models of anisotropic crosslinked polymers employing tools from the theory of liquid crystal elastomers. The anisotropy of these systems stems from the presence of rigid-rod molecular units in the…
We study colloidal particles in a nematic-liquid-crystal-filled microfluidic channel and show how elastic interactions between the particle and the channel wall lead to different particle dynamics compared with conventional microfluidics.…
Microbubbles excited by acoustic fields inside water oscillate, and generate acoustic radiation forces and drag-induced acoustic streaming. These forces can be harnessed in various biomedical applications such as targeted drug delivery and…
This paper concerns the experimental validation of some mathematical models previously developed by the authors, to predict the static behaviour of microelectrostatic actuators, basically free-clamped microbeams. This layout is currently…
We develop a scaling theory to describe dynamic fluctuations of a semiflexible polymer and find several distinct regimes. We performed simulations to characterize the longitudinal and transverse dynamics; using ensemble averaging for a…
We examine the behavior of spherical silica particles trapped at an air-nematic liquid crystal interface. When a strong normal anchoring is imposed, the beads spontaneously form various structures depending on their area density and the…
We develop a mean-field model to examine the stability of a `quasi-2D suspension' of elongated particles embedded within a viscous membrane. This geometry represents several biological and synthetic settings, and we reveal mechanisms by…
During the last decade, intracellular actin waves have attracted much attention due to their essential role in various cellular functions, ranging from motility to cytokinesis. Experimental methods have advanced significantly and can…
The polymerization dynamics of double-stranded polymers, such as actin filaments, is investigated theoretically using simple chemical kinetic models that explicitly take into account some microscopic details of the polymer structure and the…
While semi-flexible polymers and fibers are an important class of material due to their rich mechanical properties, it remains unclear how these properties relate to the microscopic conformation of the polymers. Actin filaments constitute…
Spherical microparticles dispersed in nematic liquid crystals have been extensively investigated in the past years. Here, we report experimental studies on the elastic deformation, colloidal interaction and self-assembly of hematite…
While actin bundles are used by living cells for structural fortification, the microscopic origin of the elasticity of bundled networks is not understood. Here, we show that above a critical concentration of the actin binding protein…
The stacking sequence of hexagonal close-packed and related crystals typically results in steps on vicinal {0001} surfaces that have alternating A and B structures with different growth kinetics. However, because it is difficult to…
Large deformations of soft elastic beads spinning at high angular velocity in a denser background fluid are investigated theoretically, numerically, and experimentally using millimeter-size polyacrylamide hydrogel particles introduced in a…
The interaction of electrons with a periodic potential of atoms in crystalline solids gives rise to band structure. The band structure of existing materials can be measured by photoemission spectroscopy and accurately understood in terms of…
We present a novel dynamic light scattering setup to probe, with time and space resolution, the microscopic dynamics of soft matter systems confined within millimeter-sized spherical drops. By using an ad-hoc optical layout, we tackle the…