Category: Group Members

Janko Vrcek joins the Soft Matter Lab

(Photo by A. Ciarlo.)
Janko Vrcek joined the Soft Matter Lab on 9 September 2024.

Janko is a master student in Physics at Chalmers University of Technology.

During his time at the Soft Matter Lab, he will work on Monte Carlo simulations of protein condensates.

Biomolecular condensation is a phenomenon where under certain conditions biological polymers like proteins or RNA segregate out of a solution into a condensate. Many cellular organelles such as nucleolus are considered to be biomolecular condensates. Disruption in the condensation can have serious effects on human health, causing illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease and cancer. My research investigates conditions for formation of condensates from previously developed theoretical models such as Flory-Huggins theory. We do this by utilizing Monte Carlo simulations of polymer mixtures and comparing results with theoretical models, as well as experimental results.

Aarón Domenzain joins the Soft Matter Lab

(Photo by A. Ciarlo.)
Aarón Domenzain starts his PhD at the Physics Department of the University of Gothenburg on 2 September 2024.

Aarón has a Master degree in Nanotechnology from Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg.

In his PhD, he will focus on optical tweezers and applications.

Erik Olsén joins the Soft Matter Lab

(Photo by A. Ciarlo.)
Erik Olsén started his postdoc at the Physics Department of the University of Gothenburg on 26th August 2024. His research is funded by a Swedish research council internation postdoc fellowship with grant nr 2024-00439.

Erik received a PhD degree 2023 in physics from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden. In his thesis he focused on optical particle characterisation of nanoparticles and submicron particles, with an emphasis on label-free characterisation methods.

The Soft Matter Lab will administrate the postdoc grant while Erik will be in the lab of Sabrina Leslie at University of British Columbia (UBC). At UBC, Erik will combine different image modalities with confined lens induced confinement (CLiC) to characterise different types of biological nanoparticles.

Flavia Theisel Bravo joins the Soft Matter Lab

(Photo by A. Ciarlo.)
Flavia Theisel Bravo starts her DAAD-RISE internship at the Physics Department of the University of Gothenburg on 26 August 2024.

Flavia is a masters student at the department of physics, TU Dresden, Germany.

In her internship, she will focus on the simulation of intracavity optical trapping.

Her internship will last until 18 October 2024.

Jason Lewis joins the Soft Matter Lab

(Photo by A. Ciarlo.)
Jason Lewis started to work as a researcher at the Physics Department of the University of Gothenburg on 1st June 2024.

Jason received his Ph.D. degree in Complexity Science from the University of Warwick, UK, with a thesis titled “Topological models of swarming”, which studied the dynamics of bird flocks, specifically under topological constraints, via theory and numerical simulation.

After his PhD, he undertook a postdoc in the group of Joakim Stenhammar at Lund University, Sweden, where he investigated chemotaxis and the collective behaviour of microswimmers, known as active turbulence, in addition to other projects at the interface of machine learning and active matter.

His research focuses on the theory and simulation of active matter systems at all scales, specifically on modelling the structure and dynamics of self-organising groups of motile robots.

Kunli Xiong appointed at Uppsala University

(Photo by A. Argun.)
Kunli Xiong has been appointed as an assistant professor at Uppsala University, Department of Material Science and Engineering. Congrats!

He will start his new appointment on May 6th 2024. His research will focus on nanooptics technology for electronic paper, optical neural networks, and intelligent microparticles.

Wylie Ahmed visits the Soft Matter Lab. Welcome!

(Photo by A. Ciarlo)
Wylie Ahmed is a Visiting Professor from the Laboratoire de Physique Theorique in Toulouse, France. He is also an associate professor (on leave) at California State University, Fullerton where he leads the Laboratory for Soft, Living, and Active Matter (SLAMLab). His visiting position is financed through the CNRS with partial support from the Soft Matter Lab.
He will visit us for 5 months from March 1, 2024, to July 31, 2024.

He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research Fellow at the Institut Curie in Paris, France. He started his group in 2016 in California and is now moving his research activities to Toulouse France. His research interests are in cellular biophysics, soft and active matter physics, and bio-inspired materials with a theme towards understanding emergent behavior.