Active matter refers to systems that consume energy from their surroundings, converting it into forces and motion, keeping them out of equilibrium and leading to diverse phenomena, from moving crowds to bacterial biofilms. This behaviour drives collective and stochastic dynamics, often linked to biological processes.
This study presents an active system with three components: an ATP...
The skin is the body’s primary biological barrier. Although essential for protection, this barrier function limits the efficacy of transdermal drug delivery, as most topically applied compounds fail to reach deeper skin layers at therapeutically relevant concentrations. Existing approaches often rely on physical disruption of the barrier, which can cause undesirable side effects. Moreover,...
Cells can move directionally along gradients of substrate stiffness- a process called durotaxis. In most studied situations, durotaxis relies on cell-substrate focal adhesions to sense stiffness and transmit forces that drive directed motion. Until recently, it was not known whether and how durotaxis could take place in the absence of focal adhesions. However, our experimental collaborators...
Micrometric devices have attracted increasing attention for biomedical applications.[1] However, despite their biocompatibility and tunable surface chemistry, they often exhibit limited cellular uptake [2,3]. Self-assembled monolayers represent a reliable approach for modifying the surface chemistry of nano- and micromaterials. In this work, silicon oxide microchips (SiOµC) were functionalized...
Ion-exchange polymers offer a versatile platform for self-phoretic active colloids. Nafion, rich in sulfonic groups, generates strong ionic gradients and electric fields during counterion exchange when immersed in water, enabling autonomous fluid pumping and propulsion. Building on our earlier work with immobilized Nafion pumps, we now extend these concepts to fully motile colloidal swimmers....
Various synthetic stimuli-responsive microscopic systems with impressive control in relative molecular motion have been created [1] to imitate naturally occurring movement of biomolecules. Our group developed a purely supramolecular system where a molecular ‘traveller’ (TCPP) moved along gemini bis-imidazolium gelator fibers over several microns when irradiated with visible light in the...
There is a growing tendency to confine motile microorganisms, such as bacteria, within narrow channels for the purpose of studying their chemotaxis, signaling, and interactions, or to model their motility in porous media. When the width of the channels is comparable to the size of the microorganisms, the free trajectories of two microswimmers can be significantly disrupted when they meet. A...
Radio-frequency (RF) and microwaves (MWs) are widely used owing to their benefits, including rapid transmission speed and broad frequency band. As a result,numerous applications in many different fields, including defense, telecommunications, healthcare, and consumer electronics have emerged.
This work focuses on the synthesis of magnetic functional materials embedded in a polymeric matrix...
