Dresden 2020 – scientific programme
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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 43: Active Matter II (joint session BP/CPP/DY)
CPP 43.6: Talk
Tuesday, March 17, 2020, 10:45–11:00, HÜL 386
Active particle penetration through a planar elastic membrane — •Abdallah Daddi-Moussa-Ider1, Benno Liebchen1,2, Andreas M Menzel1, and Hartmut Löwen1 — 1Institut für Theoretische Physik II: Weiche Materie, Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Germany — 2Theorie Weicher Materie, Fachbereich Physik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany
Active penetration of nanoparticles through cell membranes is an important phenomenon which has various biomedical and clinical applications. Using particle-based computer simulations and theory, we study the penetration mechanism of an active or externally driven particle through a planar elastic membrane. We model the membrane as a self-assembled sheet of particles embedded in a viscous fluid. We introduce a coarse-grained model to describe the mutual interactions between the membrane particles. We identify three distinct scenarios, including trapping of the active particle, penetration through the membrane with subsequent self-healing, in addition to penetration with permanent disruption of the membrane. The latter scenario may be accompanied by a partial fragmentation of the membrane into bunches of isolated or clustered particles. Our approach might be helpful for the prediction of the transition threshold between the trapping and penetration states in real-space experiments involving motile swimming bacteria or artificial self-propelling active particles. Reference: Daddi-Moussa-Ider et al., Theory of active particle penetration through a planar elastic membrane, New J. Phys. 21, 083014 (2019).