T. G. Fai,1 R. Kusters,2,3 J. Harting,4,2 C. H. Rycroft,1 and L. Mahadevan1,5,* 1John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA 2Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, 5612 AZ Eindhoven, Netherlands 3Physicochimie Curie (CNRS-UMR168), Institut Curie, 26 rue d’Ulm, 75248 Paris Cedex 05, France 4Helmh...

We consider the sticking of a fluid-immersed colloidal particle with a substrate coated by polymeric tethers, a model for soft, wet adhesion in many natural and artificial systems. Our theory accounts for the kinetics of binding, the elasticity of the tethers, and the hydrodynamics of fluid drainage between the colloid and the substrate, characterized by three dimensionless parameters: the rati...

Advances in computer-basedmodeling and simulationmethodologies and capabilities, coupled with the emergenceanddevelopment of high-resolution experimental techniques, allow investigations of tribological phenomenawith unprecedented atomic-scale spatial and temporal resolution. We focus here onmolecular dynamics simulations of formationandproperties of interfacial junctionsandonnano-elastohydrody...

We study the lubrication of fluid-immersed soft interfaces and show that elastic deformation couples tangential and normal forces and thus generates lift. We consider materials that deform easily, due to either geometry e.g., a shell or constitutive properties e.g., a gel or a rubber , so that the effects of pressure and temperature on the fluid properties may be neglected. Four different syste...

The simple model involving a moving rigid particle, separated from a compliant wall by a thin film of viscous fluid, has previously been applied successfully to a number of important problems. For example, transport of blood cells, particle clearance in the lungs and the late stages of particle sedimentation. Considerable fluid forces are generated in the film, causing the compliant surface to ...

We propose a minimal mathematical model for the physical basis of membrane protein patterning in the immunological synapse (IS), which encompass membrane mechanics, protein binding kinetics and motion, and fluid flow in the synaptic cleft. Our theory leads to simple predictions for the spatial and temporal scales of protein cluster formation, growth and arrest as a function of membrane stiffnes...