Direct observation of the dynamics of semiflexible polymers in shear flow

The flow behavior of polymeric liquids can be traced back to the complex conformational dynamics of polymer molecules in shear flow, which poses a major challenge to theory and experiment alike due to the inherently large number of degrees of freedom. Here we directly determine the configurational dynamics of individual actin filaments with varying lengths in a well defined shear geometry by combining microscopy, microfluidics, and a semiautomated moving stage. This allows the identification of the microscopic mechanisms and the derivation of an analytical model for the dynamics of individual filaments based on the balance of drag, bending, and stochastic forces.