• Graduate Student Kyle Sullivan (right) with Postdocs Mike Dimitriyev (middle) and Michael Wang (left)

    Graduate Student Kyle Sullivan (right) with Postdocs Mike Dimitriyev (middle) and Michael Wang (left)

  • Illustration of vesicle destruction over time.

    When lipid bilayer vesicles are exposed to nanoparticles that bind strongly, the membrane envelopes the particles and then proceeds through a remarkable process of forming tubules and pores, followed by complete disruption. (The nanoparticles are too small to see here.) Tony Dinsmore's group studies this process to learn the the principles underlying cell deformation and to design new responsive materials.

  • Rob Keane

    Graduate student Rob Keane presenting data and a model about assembly at fluid interfaces at the American Physical Society DFD meeting 2022. (Dinsmore Research group and Mathai Research group)

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  • Wrinkling instabilities of a thin elastic sheet forced to curve around a spherical fluid meniscus

    Wrinkling instabilities of a thin elastic sheet forced to curve around a spherical fluid meniscus, from Hunter King’s thesis in Menon’s research group.

  • Graduate student Geunwoong Jeon speaking at the Weekly Soft matter and Biophysics Student Talks.

    Graduate student Geunwoong Jeon speaking at the Weekly Soft matter and Biophysics Student Talks.

  • a granular medium can store and recall complex memories of strains applied during slow compressions

    Computer simulations like this show that a granular medium can store and recall complex memories of strains applied during slow compressions. Candela research group

  • Dante Naylor

    Undergraduate student Dante Naylor presenting about soft fluidic coupled oscillators at the American Physical Society DFD meeting 2022. (Mathai Research group)

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  • Rayleigh-Bernard convection patterns formed by rising and setting thermal plumes

    Rayleigh-Bernard convection patterns formed by rising and setting thermal plumes. Mathai research group

  • Students and postdocs gathered at the Soft Matter and Biophysics Friday Pizza Lunch

    Students and postdocs gathered at the Soft Matter and Biophysics Friday Pizza Lunch

  • Domenic McArthur

    Graduate student Domenic McArthur presenting on the topic of water entry on ultra-elastic membranes at the American Physical Society March Meeting 2023. (Mathai Research group)
     

Soft Matter and Biophysics Research Group

Soft matter physics and biophysics are relatively new and inherently interdisciplinary fields, connecting physics with biology, chemistry, engineering, and applied mathematics. Our experimental and theoretical research in Soft Matter and Biophysics spans a broad spectrum of cutting-edge topics that include fluids, colloids, sheets, filaments, polymers, bubbles, foams, granular materials, liquid crystals, active matter, bacteria, cellulose, as well as a number of other biological and bio-inspired materials.

Research Groups

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