Phospholipase-catalyzed degradation drives domain morphology and rheology transitions in model lung surfactant monolayers.

Lung surfactant is inactivated in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) by a mechanism that remains unclear. Phospholipase (PLA) plays an essential role in the normal lipid recycling processes, but is present in elevated levels in ARDS, suggesting it plays a role in ARDS pathophysiology. PLA hydrolyzes lipids such as DPPC-the primary component of lung surfactant-into palmitic acid (PA) and lyso-PC (LPC).

Solvent Quality and Aggregation State of Asphaltenes on Interfacial Mechanics and Jamming Behavior at the Oil/Water Interface.

The formation of highly stable water-in-oil emulsions results in complications in both upstream and downstream processing. Emulsion stability in these systems has been connected to the adsorption of surface-active asphaltenes that are assumed to form a rigidified film at the oil/water (o/w) interface. Full characterization of this behavior is needed to allow for engineered solutions for enhanced oil recovery.

Vacuole dynamics and popping-based motility in liquid droplets of DNA.

Liquid droplets of biomolecules play key roles in organizing cellular behavior, and are also technologically relevant, yet physical studies of dynamic processes of such droplets have generally been lacking. Here, we investigate and quantify the dynamics of formation of dilute internal inclusions, i.e.

A chromosome-level genome assembly for the Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta).

The Rock Ptarmigan (Lagopus muta) is a cold-adapted, largely sedentary, game bird with a Holarctic distribution. The species represents an important example of an organism likely to be affected by ongoing climatic shifts across a disparate range. We provide here a high-quality reference genome and mitogenome for the Rock Ptarmigan assembled from PacBio HiFi and Hi-C sequencing of a female bird from Iceland.

Curvature and shape relaxation in surface-viscous domains.

The mechanics of curved, heterogeneous, surfactant-laden surfaces and interfaces are important to a variety of engineering and biological applications. To date, most models of rheologically complex interfaces have focused on homogeneous systems of planar or fixed curvature. In this study, we investigate a simple, dynamical model of a two-phase surface fluid on a curved interface: a condensed, surface-viscous domain embedded within a surface-inviscid, spherical interface of time-varying radius of curvature.