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Updated: Jan 4, 2026

Reconstitution of Basic Mitotic Spindles in Spherical Emulsion Droplets
Published on: August 13, 2016
Threading the Spindle: A Geometric Study of Chiral Liquid Crystal Polymer Microparticles
Helen S Ansell1, Dae Seok Kim1,2, Randall D Kamien1
1Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
Abstract:
Polymeric particles are strong candidates for designing artificial materials capable of emulating the complex twisting-based functionality observed in biological systems. In this Letter, we provide the first detailed investigation of the swelling behavior of bipolar polymer liquid crystalline microparticles. Deswelling from the spherical bipolar configuration causes the microparticles to contract anisotropically and twist in the process, resulting in a twisted spindle-shaped structure. We propose a model to describe the observed spiral patterns and twisting behavior.

