Rising Stars in Soft and Biological Matter Symposium 2020

October 8 & 9, 2020

The UChicago Rising Stars in Soft and Biological Matter Symposium is a platform for exceptional early-career scientists in the broad field of soft and biological matter to present their work.  These speakers are chosen for their track record of research accomplishments and demonstrated contributions to enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM. 

Please register for the Symposium by filling out this short form to receive an email with a Zoom link closer to the date.

All times are indicated in Central Daylight Time.  

Thursday, October 8

10:30  Tech Check
11:00-11:03 - Introduction & Welcome, Margaret  Gardel, UChicago MRSEC Director

Session 1 - Phases of Soft Matter (Discussion Leader: Nagel)

11:03 - 11:21	Andrei Gasic	Critical Phenomena in the Folding Phase Diagram of a Large Protein
11:21 - 11:39	Erin Teich	Crystalline shielding localizes memory in jammed systems under oscillatory shear
11:39 - 11:57	Stewart Mallory	Dynamic Overlap Concentration Scale of Active Colloids
11:57 - 12:15	Danilo Liarte	Viscoelasticity of Disordered Elastic Networks: Jamming, Rigidity Percolation and Beyond
12:15 - 12:33	Alexa Keunstler	Blueprinting Photothermal Shape-Morphing of Liquid Crystal Elastomers
12:33 - 1:03		Discussion with all Session 1 speakers

Session 2 - Assembling Soft Matter (Discussion Leader: Murugan)

1:00 - 1:18	Ahyoung Kim	Polymer-patched "Nano-Legos": design and assembly in liquid cell
1:18 - 1:36	Beatrice Soh	Deformation Response of Catenated DNA Networks in a Planar Elongational FIeld
1:36 - 1:54	Sophie Marbach	The nanoscale caterpillar or how to achieve precise motion with random sticky feet
1:54 - 2:12	Robert Alberstein	Assembly of a patchy protein into variable 2D lattices via tunable multiscale interactions
2:12 - 2:30	Adrian Figg	Controlling the DNA Hybridization Chain Reaction
2:30 - 3:00		Discussion with all Session 2 speakers
3:00 - 4:00		Closed Session.  Informal Discussion in Field Specific Breakout rooms [(Phases: Sid Nagel, Heinrich Jaeger, Michelle Driscoll); (Assemblies:  Arvind Murugan, Allison Squires); (Living: Margaret Gardel, Ed Munro, Mike Rust)]

Friday, October 9

Session 3 - Living Matter (Discussion Leader: Gardel)

11:00 - 11:18 Jerelle Joseph Liquid network conectivity regulates the stability and composition of biomolecular condensates with many components 11:18 - 11:36 Jasmine Nirody The bacterial flagellum: mechanics and mechanosensing 11:36 - 11:54 Jinghui Liu Topological braiding and bosonic phases on the cell membrane 11:54 - 12:12 Daniel Seara  Irreversibility and synchronization in biochemical oscillators 12:12 - 12:30 Pooja Suresh Probing the mechanics of the mitotic spindle 12:30 - 1:00 Discussion with all Session 3 speakers

Session 4 - Discussion of Future Directions led by Participants

1:00- 1:20 Phases of Soft Matter Faculty Discussants: Sid Nagel (UChicago Physics), Heinrich Jaeger (UChicago Physics), Michelle Driscoll (Northwestern Physics) 1:20- 1:40 Assembling Soft Matter Faculty: Arvind Murugan (UChicago Physics), Allison Squires (UChicago PME), Matt Tirrell (UChicago PME, Dean) 1:40- 2:00 Living Matter Faculty: Margaret Gardel (UChicago Physics & PME), Mike Rust (UChicago MGCB & Physics), Ed Munro (UChicago MGCB) 2:00-2:05 Thank you & Conclusion, Margaret Gardel

**Please also see announcement of a similar symposium sponsoreed by Princeton University and the University of Delaware MRSEC: Soft Matter for All on October 23rd.