相关论文: Biopolymer Elasticity
Achieving and exceeding the diversity of colloidal analogs of chemical elements and molecules as building blocks of matter has been the central goal and challenge of colloidal science ever since Einstein introduced the colloidal atom…
All living systems can function only far away from equilibrium, and for this reason chemical kinetic methods are critically important for uncovering the mechanisms of biological processes. Here we present a new theoretical method of…
Previous studies of the flexibilities of ancestral proteins suggests that proteins evolve their function by altering their native state ensemble. Here we propose a more direct method of visualizing this by measuring the changes in the…
DNA and other biopolymers differ from classical polymers due to their torsional stiffness. This property changes the statistical character of their conformations under tension from a classical random walk to a problem we call the `torsional…
Using numerical simulations, we characterized the behavior of an elastic membrane immersed in an active fluid. Our findings reveal a nontrivial folding and re-expansion of the membrane that is controlled by the interplay of its resistance…
Recent experimental and theoretical approaches have attempted to quantify the physical organization (compaction and geometry) of the bacterial chromosome with its complement of proteins (the nucleoid). The genomic DNA exists in a complex…
Systems of "living" polymers are ubiquitous in industry and are traditionally realised using surfactants. Here I review the state-of-the-art of living polymers and discuss non-equilibrium extensions that may be realised with advanced…
We study the dynamics of an ideal polymer chain in a crowded, viscoelastic medium and in the presence of active forces. The motion of the centre of mass and of individual monomers is calculated. On time scales that are comparable to the…
In equilibrium, the physical properties of matter are set by the interactions between the constituents. In contrast, the energy input of the individual components controls the behavior of synthetic or living active matter. Great progress…
We review continuum elastic models for the transmission of both external forces and internal active cellular forces in biopolymer gels, and relate them to recent experiments. Rather than being exhaustive, we focus on continuum elastic…
Diffusion in cell biology is important and complicated. Diffusing particles must contend with a complex environment as they make their way through the cell. We analyze a particular type of complexity that arises when diffusing particles…
Genomic DNA is constantly subjected to various mechanical stresses arising from its biological functions and cell packaging. If the local mechanical properties of DNA change under torsional and tensional stress, the activity of…
The 'elastic capacitor' (EC) model was first introduced in studies of lipid bilayers (the major components of biological membranes). This electro-elastic model accounted for the compression of a membrane under applied voltage and allowed…
Both classical and quantum electrodynamics predict the existence of dipole-dipole long-range electrodynamic intermolecular forces; however, these have never been hitherto experimentally observed. The discovery of completely new and…
We study the phenomenon of migration of the small molecular weight component of a binary polymer mixture to the free surface using mean field and self-consistent field theories. By proposing a free energy functional that incorporates…
Electrochemical Biosensors are uniquely positioned to offer real-time in vivo molecular sensing due to their robustness to both biofluids and contaminants found in biofluids, and their adaptability for the detection of different analytes by…
Time-resolved single-molecule biophysical experiments yield data that contain a wealth of dynamic information, in addition to the equilibrium distributions derived from histograms of the time series. In typical force spectroscopic setups…
Most single-molecule studies derive the kinetic rates of native, intermediate, and unfolded states from equilibrium hopping experiments. Here, we apply Kramers kinetic diffusive model to derive the force-dependent kinetic rates of…
Polymer composites are ideal candidates for next generation biomimetic soft materials because of their exquisite bottom-up designability. However, the richness of behaviours comes at a price: the need for precise and extensive…
While the dynamics of polymer chains in equilibrium media is well understood by now, the polymer dynamics in active non-equilibrium environments can be very different. Here we study the dynamics of polymers in a viscous medium containing…