Fred C. MacKintosh

TL;DR: A molecular theory that accounts for strain-stiffening in a range of molecularly distinct gels formed from cytoskeletal and extracellular proteins and that reveals universal stress–strain relations at low to intermediate strains is reported.

TL;DR: It is shown that networks of cross-linked and bundled actin filaments exhibit exceptional elastic behavior that reflects the mechanical properties of individual filaments, and parameterize the full range of behavior in a state diagram and elucidate its origin with a robust model.

TL;DR: This model can explain a number of elastic properties of cross-linked gels and sterically entangled solutions of semiflexible biopolymers such as F-actin in vitro, including the concentration dependence of the storage modulus and yield strain.

TL;DR: A quantitative theoretical model is presented connecting the large-scale properties of this active gel to molecular force generation and qualitatively changing the viscoelastic response of the network in an adenosine triphosphate–dependent manner.

TL;DR: It is shown that intracellular microtubules do bear large-scale compressive loads from a variety of physiological forces, but their buckling wavelength is reduced significantly because of mechanical coupling to the surrounding elastic cytoskeleton, suggesting they can make a more significant structural contribution to the mechanical behavior of the cell than previously thought possible.