jiang group research

The cytoskeleton provides the mechanical scaffold and maintains the integrity of cells.  It is usually believed that one type of cytoskeleton biopolymer, microtubules, bear compressive force.  In vitro experiments found that isolated microtubules may form an Euler buckling pattern with a long wavelength for very small compressive force.  This, however, does not agree with in vivo experiments where microtubules buckle with short-wavelength.  In order to understand the structural role of microtubules in vivo, we (Jiaping Zhang and Hanqing Jiang) developed a mechanics model to study microtubule buckling supported by cytoplasm.  We found that the ability for a cell to sustain compressive force does not solely rely on mic

A gel is an aggregate of polymers and solvent molecules.  The polymers crosslink into a three-dimensional network by strong chemical bonds, and enable the gel to retain its shape after a large deformation.  The solvent molecules, however, interact among themselves and with the network by weak physical bonds, and enable the gel to be a conduit of mass transport.  The time-dependent concurrent process of large deformation and mass transport is studied by developing a finite element method.