In contrast to most man-made machines, biological organisms are typically built from soft and often fluid-like material. How can such liquid matter be controlled in space and time to fulfill precise functions? To uncover the physical principles for such organization, we analyze theoretical models of biological processes using tools from statistical physics, dynamical system theory, fluid dynamics, and information theory.
We are excited to announce that Cathelijne ter Burg and Oliver Paulin joined the group as postdocs last week!
We published a new pre-print on a theory of Elastic Microphase Separation explaining recent experiments. In the experiments, phase separation in an elastic PDMS gel lead to regular patterns whose length scale decreased for stiffer meshes. Our theory based on nonlocal elasticity explains this behavior and the observed continuous phase transition.
Our paper on the “Nucleation of chemically active droplets” has been published in PRL. In this work spearheaded by Noah Ziethen, we wondered how chemical reactions affect the rate at which droplets emerge. Our numerical simulations and analytical theory indicate that reactions generally suppress nucleation when the dilute phase is stable.
