Dynamics of active bio-inspired materials: from cytoskeleton composites to circadian colloids

Event Date:
2025-01-16T16:00:00
2025-01-16T17:00:00
Event Location:
HENN 201
Speaker:
Rae M. Robertson-Anderson, University of California San Diego (UCSD)
Related Upcoming Events:
Department Colloquia
Intended Audience:
Everyone
Local Contact:

Georg Rieger (rieger@phas.ubc.ca) and Brett Gladman (gladman@astro.ubc.ca)

All are welcome to this event!

Event Information:

Abstract:
Active dynamics and out-of-equilibrium reconfigurability, at the heart of diverse biological processes, are widely studied across disciplines in efforts to infuse such properties into next-generation autonomous materials, and to understand the physics underlying living systems that are far from equilibrium. In this talk, I will discuss two orthogonal paths we take, inspired by biology, to introduce active dynamics, restructuring and non-equilibrium rheological properties into soft matter systems. Our work on motor-driven composites of actin filaments and microtubules reveal that synergistic interactions between these two polymers confers emergent strength and reversibility into composites; while competition between their associated molecular motors, myosin and kinesin, gates composite restructuring and suppresses de-mixing and advection. In a very different approach to active matter design, we harness functionalized circadian clock proteins to drive oscillatory self-assembly of diffuse colloids into percolated networks of colloidal superstructures on a timescale programmed by the circadian rhythm. Throughout the talk, I will also highlight methods our lab has developed to study these systems, including advanced optical tweezers microrheology and differential dynamic microscopy.


Bio:


Robertson-Anderson is Associate Provost for Engaged Scholarship at University of San Diego, where she has been a Professor of Physics and Biophysics since 2009.

Robertson-Anderson received her BS in Physics from Georgetown University in 2003, funded by a Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship. She earned her PhD in Physics from University of California, San Diego in 2007, funded by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, after which she was awarded an NIH fellowship to pursue a molecular biology postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute.

Robertson-Anderson joined the faculty at University of San Diego with the goal of engaging undergraduates in cutting-edge research and shaping undergraduate physics programs and research at a national level. She served as department Chair for 8 years, overhauling the physics curriculum and research culture, and establishing an interdisciplinary Biophysics BS that has served as a model for liberal arts institutions nationally. 

Robertson-Anderson’s research program aims to elucidate microscale mechanics and macromolecular transport in bio-inspired soft and active matter systems. Her lab has pioneered novel optical tweezers microrheology and fluorescence microscopy techniques to probe these systems across decades of spatiotemporal scales. She is also a leading expert in engineering biopolymer networks that leverage biological design paradigms to solve problems in soft and active matter physics.

Robertson-Anderson has been awarded over $5M to fund her research program, including a Keck Foundation Research Grant, NSF DMREF Award, NSF CAREER Award, and Air Force Young Investigator Award. In 2022, she was awarded a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholars STAR Award for her excellence in research and teaching, and in 2023 she was awarded the APS Prize for Faculty research at an undergraduate institution and was named an APS Fellow.

Learn More:

Add to Calendar 2025-01-16T16:00:00 2025-01-16T17:00:00 Dynamics of active bio-inspired materials: from cytoskeleton composites to circadian colloids Event Information: Abstract:Active dynamics and out-of-equilibrium reconfigurability, at the heart of diverse biological processes, are widely studied across disciplines in efforts to infuse such properties into next-generation autonomous materials, and to understand the physics underlying living systems that are far from equilibrium. In this talk, I will discuss two orthogonal paths we take, inspired by biology, to introduce active dynamics, restructuring and non-equilibrium rheological properties into soft matter systems. Our work on motor-driven composites of actin filaments and microtubules reveal that synergistic interactions between these two polymers confers emergent strength and reversibility into composites; while competition between their associated molecular motors, myosin and kinesin, gates composite restructuring and suppresses de-mixing and advection. In a very different approach to active matter design, we harness functionalized circadian clock proteins to drive oscillatory self-assembly of diffuse colloids into percolated networks of colloidal superstructures on a timescale programmed by the circadian rhythm. Throughout the talk, I will also highlight methods our lab has developed to study these systems, including advanced optical tweezers microrheology and differential dynamic microscopy. Bio: Robertson-Anderson is Associate Provost for Engaged Scholarship at University of San Diego, where she has been a Professor of Physics and Biophysics since 2009. Robertson-Anderson received her BS in Physics from Georgetown University in 2003, funded by a Clare Boothe Luce Scholarship. She earned her PhD in Physics from University of California, San Diego in 2007, funded by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship, after which she was awarded an NIH fellowship to pursue a molecular biology postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute. Robertson-Anderson joined the faculty at University of San Diego with the goal of engaging undergraduates in cutting-edge research and shaping undergraduate physics programs and research at a national level. She served as department Chair for 8 years, overhauling the physics curriculum and research culture, and establishing an interdisciplinary Biophysics BS that has served as a model for liberal arts institutions nationally.  Robertson-Anderson’s research program aims to elucidate microscale mechanics and macromolecular transport in bio-inspired soft and active matter systems. Her lab has pioneered novel optical tweezers microrheology and fluorescence microscopy techniques to probe these systems across decades of spatiotemporal scales. She is also a leading expert in engineering biopolymer networks that leverage biological design paradigms to solve problems in soft and active matter physics. Robertson-Anderson has been awarded over $5M to fund her research program, including a Keck Foundation Research Grant, NSF DMREF Award, NSF CAREER Award, and Air Force Young Investigator Award. In 2022, she was awarded a Research Corporation Cottrell Scholars STAR Award for her excellence in research and teaching, and in 2023 she was awarded the APS Prize for Faculty research at an undergraduate institution and was named an APS Fellow. Learn More: Read her biography here: https://www.sandiego.edu/provost/office/biography.php?profile_id=399  See her appointment as Associate Provost for Engaged Scholarship: https://www.sandiego.edu/provost/office/biography.php?profile_id=399  Read about the Robertson-Anderson lab, "Bio-inspired squishy physics and optical trapping": https://www.biospotlab.com/  Event Location: HENN 201