Guy K. German

Scaling of Traction Forces with the Size of Cohesive Cell Colonies

To understand how the mechanical properties of tissues emerge from interactions of multiple cells, we measure traction stresses of cohesive colonies of 1-27 cells adherent to soft substrates. We find that traction stresses are generally localized at the periphery of the colony and the total traction force scales with the colony radius. For large colony sizes, the scaling appears to approach linear, suggesting the emergence of an apparent surface tension of the order of 10(-3)  N/m. A simple model of the cell colony as a contractile elastic medium coupled to the substrate captures the spatial distribution of traction forces and the scaling of traction forces with the colony size.

Patterning droplets with durotaxis

Numerous cell types have shown a remarkable ability to detect and move along gradients in stiffness of an underlying substrate—a process known as durotaxis. The mechanisms underlying durotaxis are still unresolved, but generally believed to involve active sensing and locomotion. Here, we show that simple liquid droplets also undergo durotaxis. By modulating substrate stiffness, we obtain fine control of droplet position on soft, flat substrates. Unlike other control mechanisms, droplet durotaxis works without imposing chemical, thermal, electrical, or topographical gradients. We show that droplet durotaxis can be used to create large-scale droplet patterns and is potentially useful for many applications, such as microfluidics, thermal control, and microfabrication.

Impact of shear-thinning and yield-stress drops on solid substrates

The behaviour of shear-thinning and viscoplastic fluid drops impacting on solid substrates as compared with that of Newtonian drops is studied experimentally by means of high-speed imaging. In particular, the investigation focuses on the morphological aspects of drops after inertial spreading. While the impact morphology of drops of shear-thinning fluids turns out to be qualitatively similar to that of Newtonian fluids, viscoplastic drops can exhibit central drop peaks at the end of inertial spreading. The influence of yield-stress magnitude on drop impact behaviour is qualitatively established by measuring the size of these central drop peaks. The peaks indicate that drop deformation during impact is localized: within a threshold radius, shear-stress effects will not be large enough in magnitude to overcome yield-stress effects, and therefore viscoplastic fluids within this region will not deform from the drop shape prior to impact.

Imaging stress and strain in the fracture of drying colloidal films

Drying-induced fracture limits the applications of thin films based on colloidal materials. To better understand the mechanics of drying, we directly measure the microscopic distribution of strain and stress of a colloidal silica film during the course of drying and cracking. We observe the build-up and release of internal stresses inside the film before and after the opening of individual cracks, and extract a critical stress for fracture of approximately 1 MPa. We also find an inherent time scale for stress relaxation within the film of 25 minutes, likely due to the competition between elastic deformation of and solvent flow through the porous particle network. By correlating the stress and strain, we estimate the plane strain Youngs modulus of our colloidal film of the order of 100 MPa.

Heterogeneous Drying Stresses in Stratum Corneum

We study the drying of stratum corneum, the skins outermost layer and an essential barrier to mechanical and chemical stresses from the environment. Even though stratum corneum exhibits structural features across multiple length-scales, contemporary understanding of the mechanical properties of stratum corneum is based on the assumption that its thickness and composition are homogeneous. We quantify spatially resolved in-plane traction stress and deformation at the interface between a macroscopic sample of porcine stratum corneum and an adherent deformable elastomer substrate. At length-scales greater than a millimeter, the skin behaves as a homogeneous elastic material. At this scale, a linear elastic model captures the spatial distribution of traction stresses and the dependence of drying behavior on the elastic modulus of the substrate. At smaller scales, the traction stresses are strikingly heterogeneous and dominated by the heterogeneous structure of the stratum corneum.

Surfactant treatments influence drying mechanics in human stratum corneum.

We describe a high-throughput method capable of quantifying the elastic modulus and drying stress of ex vivo samples of human stratum corneum. Spatially resolved drying deformations in circular tissue samples are measured, azimuthally averaged and fitted with a profile based on a linear elastic model. Our approach enables the comparison of the physical effects of different cleansers. We find that cleansing can cause dramatic changes to the mechanical properties of stratum corneum. In some cases, cleansing can lead to an order of magnitude increase in elastic modulus and drying stress. We expect that these mechanical properties have a direct impact on cracking and chapping skin as well as the milder sensation of perceived tightness often experienced after washing. Mechanical drying studies are also combined with drop wetting studies and pyranine staining experiments. This combination of techniques allows one to establish a multidimensional profile of stratum corneum including stiffness, susceptibility to drying, hydrophilicity and barrier functionality.

Measuring and Modeling Contractile Drying in Human Stratum Corneum

Stratum corneum (SC) is the most superficial skin layer. Its contact with the external environment means that this tissue layer is subjected to both cleansing agents and daily variations in ambient moisture; both of which can alter the water content of the tissue. Reductions in water content from severe barrier dysfunction or low humidity environments can alter SC stiffness and cause a build-up of drying stresses. In extreme conditions, these factors can cause mechanical rupture of the tissue. We have established a high throughput method of quantifying dynamic changes in the mechanical properties of SC upon drying. This technique can be employed to quantify changes in the drying behavior and mechanical properties of SC with cosmetic cleanser and moisturizer treatments. This is achieved by measuring dynamic variations in spatially resolved in-plane drying displacements of circular tissue samples adhered to an elastomer substrate. In-plane radial displacements acquired during drying are azimuthally averaged and fitted with a profile based on a linear elastic contractility model. Dynamic changes in drying stress and SC elastic modulus can then be extracted from the fitted model profiles.

Rebound of continuous droplet streams from an immiscible liquid pool

We report on the rebound of high velocity continuous water droplet streams from the surface of an immiscible oil pool. The droplets have diameters and velocities of less than 90 μm and 15 m/s, respectively, and were created at frequencies up to 60 kHz. The impact and rebound of continuous droplet streams at this scale and velocity have been largely unexplored. This regime bridges the gap between single drop and jet impacts. The impinging droplets create a divot at the surface of the oil pool that had a common characteristic shape across a wide-range of droplet and oil properties. After impact, the reflected droplets maintain the same uniformity and periodicity of the incoming droplets but have significantly lower velocity and kinetic energy. This was solely attributed to the generation of a flow induced in the viscous oil pool by the impacting droplets. Unlike normally directed impact of millimeter-scale droplets with a solid surface, our results show that an air film does not appear to be maintained beneath the droplets during impact. This suggests direct contact between the droplets and the surface of the oil pool. A ballistic failure limit, correlated with the Weber number, was identified where the rebound was suppressed and the droplets were driven through the oil surface. A secondary failure mode was identified for aperiodic incoming streams. Startup effects and early time dynamics of the rebounding droplet stream were also investigated.