The phenomena resulting from interaction between polymers and membranes pose important problems for biological applications. Based on a scaling theory, we investigate the spontaneous curvature of a membrane induced by either flexible or semiflexible chain adsorption. Irrespective of chain stiffness, a weakly adsorbed polymer induces the membrane to bend away (to have a positive curvature) from ...

In clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME), clathrin and various adaptor proteins coat a patch of the plasma membrane, which is reshaped to form a budded vesicle. Experimental studies have demonstrated that elevated membrane tension can inhibit bud formation by a clathrin coat. In this study, we investigate the impact of membrane tension on the mechanics of membrane budding by simulating clathrin c...

We propose a mechanism for the control of the mechanical properties of the membrane of living cells that is based on the exchange of membrane area between the cell membrane and a membrane reservoir. The reservoir is composed of invaginated membrane microdomains which are liable to flatten upon increase of membrane strain, effectively controlling membrane tension. We show that the domain shape t...

By means of a simple model we investigate the possibility that spacetime is a membrane embedded in higher dimensions. We present cosmological solutions of d-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory which compactify to two dimensions. These solutions are analytically continued to obtain dual solutions in which a (d − 2)-dimensional Einstein spacetime " membrane " is embedded in d-dimensions. The memb...

Transient double-membrane organelles are key players in cellular processes such as autophagy, reproduction, and viral infection. These organelles are formed by the bending and closure of flat, double-membrane sheets. Proteins are believed to be important in these morphological transitions but the underlying mechanism of curvature generation is poorly understood. Here, we describe a novel mechan...

The large deflection phenomenon of an initially flat circular membrane under out-of-plane gas pressure loading is usually involved in many technical applications, such as the blister or bulge tests, where a uniform in-plane stress often present before deflection. However, there still lack effective closed-form solution for problem with initial stress. In this study, formulated and solved analyt...

Many biologically important macromolecules are internalized into cells by clathrin-coated pit endocytosis. The mechanism of clathrin-coated pit budding has been investigated intensively, and considerable progress has been made in characterizing the proteins involved in internalization. Membrane lipid composition and the lateral organization of lipids and proteins within membranes are believed t...

Receptor-mediated endocytosis begins with the binding of ligand to receptors in clathrin-coated pits followed by the budding of the pits away from the membrane. We have successfully reconstituted this sequence in vitro. Highly purified plasma membranes labeled with gold were obtained by incubating cells in the presence of anti-LDL receptor IgG-gold at 4 degrees C, attaching the labeled cells to...

this is a comprehensive review of the recent progresses made in the field of zeolite membranes. it describes zeolitic materials and methods of membrane fabrication, followed by a summary of applications for gas separation, pervaporation and separation of liquid mixtures. special attention is called to polymer mixed matrix membranes (mmms) and membranes based on metal organic frame works (mofs)....

Using $$\Gamma $$ -convergence arguments, we construct a nonlinear membrane-like Cosserat shell model on curvy reference configuration starting from geometrically nonlinear, physically linear three-dimensional isotropic model. Even if the theory is of order O(h) in thickness h, by comparison to membrane models proposed classical elasticity, beside change metric, still capable capturing transver...