Sharif Digital Repository

Lipid membranes are fundamental constituents of cell membranes and are now used in lap-on-a-chip technology. Membranes in living cells contain a significant fraction of proteins, which undergo lateral random movements due to thermal fluctuations and shear forces imposed by the solvent fluid. Prominent natural and biotechnological systems where membranes are highly sheared include the plasma membrane of endothelial cells, and membranes used in biosensors for high throughput screening of drug candidates, and in water purification devices. In these systems membrane is in direct contact with the mainstream suspension flow, which is driven by pressure gradients. The efficiency and function of... 

Mechanosensitive (MS) channels are ubiquitous molecular force sensors that respond to a number of different mechanical stimuli including tensile, compressive and shear stress. One of the main mechanisms to functionally study these channels is the patch clamp technique. Here we use continuum mechanics to probe the question of how curvature, in a standard patch clamp experiment, at different length scales (global and local) affects a model MS channel. Firstly, to increase the accuracy of the Laplace’s equation in tension estimation in a patch membrane and to be able to more precisely describe the transient phenomena happening during patch clamping, we propose a modified Laplace’s equation. In...