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Biological interfaces across scales, including biomembranes, the cell cortex, or epithelial sheets, are unique multifunctional materials that control key structural and mechanical functions of cells and tissues, including their shape, mechanical properties, and locomotion. At scales below 10s of microns, elasticity, hydrodynamics and chemistry become intertwined and these systems are permanently driven out of equilibrium by biological activity. Furthermore, large geometric transformations and molecular crowding lead to strong nonlinearity. Our goal is to develop theoretical models and computational methods to quantitatively understand the mechanobiology of these interfaces, in tight interaction with experiments. We hope to answer fundamental scientific questions and to transpose the underlying engineering principles of these biological interfaces into to new artificial materials.

Modelling fluid deformable surfaces with an emphasis on biological interfaces
Torres-Sanchez, A.; Millán, D.; Arroyo, M.
Journal of Fluid Mechanics, accepted, 2019. Submitted manuscript at http://arxiv.org/abs/1812.02837

Swimming Euglena respond to confinement with a behavioural change enabling effective crawling
Noselli, G.; Beran, A.; Arroyo, M; DeSimone, A.
Nature Physics, in press , 2019

Smart helical structures inspired by the pellicle of euglenids
Noselli, G.; Arroyo, M; DeSimone, A.
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Vol. 123, pp. 234-246, 2019

Active superelasticity in three-dimensional epithelia of controlled shape
Latorre, E.; Kale, S.; Casares, L.; Gómez-González, M.; Uroz, M.; Valon, L.; Nair, R.V.; Garreta, E.; Montserrat, N.; del Campo, A.; Ladoux, B.; Arroyo, M.; Trepat, X.
Nature, Vol. 563, pp. 203-208, 2018

A variational model of fracture for tearing brittle thin sheets
Li, B.; Millán, D.; Torres-Sánchez, A.; Roman, B. and Arroyo, M.
Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, Vol. 119, pp. 334-348, 2018

Onsager’s Variational Principle in Soft Matter: Introduction and Application to the Dynamics of Adsorption of Proteins onto Fluid Membranes
M. Arroyo, N. Walani, A. Torres-Sánchez and D. Kaurin
The role of mechanics in the study of lipid bilayers,  pp. 287-332, 2018

Charting molecular free-energy landscapes with an atlas of collective variables
Hashemian, B.; Millán, D and Arroyo, M.
The Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 145, Article number: 174109, 2016

Hydraulic fracture and toughening of a brittle layer bonded to a hydrogel
Lucantonio, A.; Noselli, G.; Trepat, X.; DeSimone, A.; Arroyo, M.
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 115, Article number: 188105, 2015

Examining the mechanical equilibrium of microscopic stresses in molecular simulations
Torres-Sánchez, A.; Vanegas, J. M.; Arroyo, M.
Physical Review Letters, Vol. 114, Article number: 258102, 2015