Active Materials: From a fundamental point of view, we create and study novel “active” materials featuring properties like reconfigurability, spontaneous motion or self-healing. To do that we combine classical soft matter, like liquid crystals, foams or gels, and active matter, like microorganisms or self-propelled synthetic particles.
Baterial Transport in Biologlical Fluids: For biomedical applications the lab studies the transport of microorganisms in complex networks and biological fluids, like blood or mucus. This could prevent medical conditions related to transport of microorganisms to places where they should not be. For example, we will work on designing intravenous and urinary catheters to limit upstream bacterial contamination, which is a leading cause of in-hospital complications and death.
Microplastic and Baterial Transport in the Enviroment: Part of the lab studies the transport of microplastics in the environment and their interactions with complex fluids and microorganisms.
