The Biological sciences produce an enormous research literature every year. Research papers are highly structured documents whose content is not captured using the traditional techniques of information retrieval: keywords and flat text. This is especially true of the Materials & Methods section of experimental papers. A great deal of highly structured information is packed into this section. It...

Anisotropy is an essential attribute exhibited by most biological materials. Based on the recent work on anisotropy of a wide range of crystals and polycrystals, we propose an appropriate measure (A) to quantify the extent of elastic anisotropy in biomaterials by accounting the tensorial nature (both stiffness-based and compliance-based) of their elastic properties. Next, we derive a relationsh...

Living cells can sense mechanical forces and convert them into biological responses. Similarly, biological and biochemical signals are known to influence the abilities of cells to sense, generate and bear mechanical forces. Studies into the mechanics of single cells, subcellular components and biological molecules have rapidly evolved during the past decade with significant implications for bio...

Understanding of new materials at the molecular level has become increasingly critical for a new generation of nanomaterials for nanotechnology, namely, the design, synthesis and fabrication of nanodevices at the molecular scale. New technology through molecular self-assembly as a fabrication tool will become tremendously important in the coming decades. Basic engineering principles for microfa...