Berlin 2008 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 19: Semiflexible Polymers and Networks

BP 19.6: Talk

Wednesday, February 27, 2008, 18:45–19:00, PC 203

Semiflexible Polymer Conformations in Entangled Networks — •Hauke Hinsch and Erwin Frey — Arnold Sommerfeld Center for Theoretical Physics, LMU München, Germany

Biopolymers are ubiquitous in nature and play a crucial role for cell mechanics and motility. One prominent example is the semiflexible filamentous actin that constitutes the cytoskeleton by forming large networks. In the absence of cross-links the network's polymers are mutually constrained only by entanglements. We report on theoretical work and simulations on various distribution functions, investigate the implications for the network's equilibrium configuration and compare our findings to recent experimental observations. Particularly, we challenge the assumption that for large ensembles in the absence of any other interactions than topology the behavior of free polymers is recovered.