title: Forces and Flow of Contractile Networks
creator: Brand, Christoph Alexander
subject: 530
subject: 530 Physics
description: Biological cells use contractile networks of cross-linked semiflexible biopolymers, the so-called actin cytoskeleton, to control their shapes and to probe the mechanical properties of their environment. These processes are essential for cell survival and function. In this thesis we present a general framework to model two-dimensional contractile networks embedded in either two- or three-dimensional space. A surface representation with triangles and edges allows us to explicitly address the heterogeneity of biopolymer networks. In adherent cells, thick polymer bundles called stress fibers strongly influence cellular mechanics. We establish methods to assess their contribution to traction force generation, intracellular force balance, and intracellular flow from experimental data. Further, we develop a theory for the excitable nature of the cell cortex, which is a thin polymer layer lining the inner side of the cell membrane, and show how it is related to global cell shape changes.
date: 2017
type: Dissertation
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
type: NonPeerReviewed
format: application/pdf
identifier: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserverhttps://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/20233/1/thesis20151207.pdf
identifier: DOI:10.11588/heidok.00020233
identifier: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-202336
identifier:   Brand, Christoph Alexander  (2017) Forces and Flow of Contractile Networks.  [Dissertation]     
relation: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/20233/
rights: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights: http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/help/license_urhg.html
language: eng