Soft Matter and Biological Physics at Surfaces

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My research program focuses on developing a fundamental understanding and predictive power for the physical properties of soft materials and biological systems, such as polymers, biopolymers and bacterial cells. The responsiveness and complexity of these materials and systems pose fascinating challenges to understand the underlying mechanisms of their complex behavior, and offer exciting opportunities to design and exploit these materials for new applications. Our work focuses on addressing questions such as: What are the mechanisms of action of novel antimicrobial compounds? How do bacteria move on surfaces? What is the nature of the binding sites of proteins with the underlying surface and with other proteins? For the polysaccharide nanoparticles discovered in my laboratory, what is the nature of their interaction with water? What are the structure and mechanical properties of naturally occurring biomaterials? To probe these questions in detail, we will use a wide range of state-of-the-art, surface-sensitive tools, unique sample geometries, and simplified, theoretical models that capture the essential physics and underlying mechanisms, within the context of a materials physics perspective. This work is necessarily multidisciplinary, spanning many disciplines such as physics, chemistry, microbiology, and food science, and local, national and international collaborations form an essential part of the research program. We hope that this will lead to an understanding of the underlying mechanisms for their behavior, and the discovery of new materials and strategies for designing and applying soft and biological materials in new applications.