[Young Researchers Only]: Bend It 'til You Break It: How to Stress a Microtubule // Acoustic Response of Fluid Adsorption in Nanoporous Materials

Bend It ‘til You Break It: How to Stress a Microtubule

Amir ZABLOTSKY (PhD, MC2)

Microtubules (MTs) are essential for intracellular transport, cell division, and structural integrity. While MT tip dynamics are well-studied, shaft dynamics remain less understood. Recent cryo-EM studies reveal monomer-sized lattice defects, challenging the view of MTs as perfect cylinders. Using a kinetic Monte Carlo model, we showed how these defects destabilize the lattice and promote breakage in absence of free tubulin. Now, we propose an MD model to analyze stress distribution under mechanical loading and its role in MT breakage. By linking micro and macro-scale dynamics, we aim to develop a multi-scale model to better understand MT shaft behavior and its potential role in shaping microtubule networks on a cellular scale.

Acoustic Response of Fluid Adsorption in Nanoporous Materials

Loriane DIDIER (PhD, PSM)

Nanoporous materials are at the heart of efficient technologies. While fluid adsorption/transport is well studied in these materials, the acoustic properties are often assumed to be unsuited due to their large wavelength compared to the pore size.

Here, molecular simulation is employed to unravel the acoustic wave propagation and attenuation of adsorption/transport in nanoporous materials. Different fluids (CH4 and CO2) are considered in a prototypical zeolite. The dynamic structure factor and vibrational density of states are used to identify the phonon sound velocities and attenuation depending fluid nature, loading, level of description, etc.