Stanford Mechanics and Computation
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Title: Heterogeneous fluctuating rod models for unfolded proteins and application to fibrin networks Abstract: Biofilaments, such as, actin and DNA, have for long been modeled as thermally fluctuating elastic rods with homogeneous material properties. Such models are adequate if the length scale of the filaments being studied is much larger than the scale of the heterogeneity. However, advanced single molecule experimental techniques have now made it possible to probe the properties of biomolecules at the scale of a few nanometers. The data emerging from these experiments ought to be greeted with appropriately detailed models. In this presentation we study the mechanics of a thermally fluctuating elastic rod whose moduli are a function of position. Such a rod can be used as a model for DNA whose sequence specific properties are known or for a protein oligomer in an AFM where some of the monomers might be unfolded. The mechanics of these rods is understood by first evaluating a partition function through path integral techniques. Similar methods can also be applied to heterogeneous networks of filaments. In this presentation we will show how protein unfolding at the level of a single filament can determine the macroscopic mechanical behavior of a network.
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