Nanomechanics of collagen microfibrils.

ABSTRACT: Collagen constitutes one third of the human proteome, providing mechanical stability, elasticity and strength to organisms and is thus the prime construction material in biology. Collagen is also the dominating material in the extracellular matrix where its stiffness controls cell differentiation, growth and pathology. We use atomistic-based hierarchical multiscale modeling to describe this complex biological material from the bottom up. This includes the use and development of large-scale computational modeling tools to investigate several aspects related to collagen-based tissues, including source of visco-elasticity and deformation mechanisms at the nanoscale level. The key innovation of this research is that until now, collagen materials have primarily been described at macroscopic sca

SUBMITTER: Vesentini S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3676161 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature