Fluid flow in the sarcomere.

A highly organized and densely packed lattice of molecular machinery within the sarcomeres of muscle cells powers contraction. Although many of the proteins that drive contraction have been studied extensively, the mechanical impact of fluid shearing within the lattice of molecular machinery has received minimal attention. It was recently proposed that fluid flow augments substrate transport in the sarcomere, however, this analysis used analytical models of fluid flow in the molecular machinery that could not capture its full complexity.

Direct measurement of particle inertial migration in rectangular microchannels.

Particles traveling at high velocities through microfluidic channels migrate from their starting streamlines due to inertial lift forces. Theories predict different scaling laws for these forces and there is little experimental evidence by which to validate theory. Here we experimentally measure the three dimensional positions and migration velocities of particles.