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Worm-like filaments that are propelled homogeneously along their tangent vector are studied by Brownian dynamics simulations. Systems in two dimensions are investigated, corresponding to filaments adsorbed to interfaces or surfaces. A large…
Stochasticity is both exploited and controlled by cells. Although the intrinsic stochasticity inherent in biochemistry is relatively well understood, cellular variation, or 'noise', is predominantly generated by interactions of the system…
Inherent structure theory is used to discover strong connections between simple characteristics of protein structure and the energy landscape of a Go model. The potential energies and vibrational free energies of inherent structures are…
The statistical mechanics of heteropolymer structure formation is studied in the context of RNA secondary structures. A designed RNA sequence biased energetically towards a particular native structure (a hairpin) is used to study the…
Birds are known for their extremely acute sense of vision. The very peculiar structural distribution of five different types of cones in the retina underlies this exquisite ability to sample light. It was recently found that each cone…
Photosynthetic eukaryotes show a remarkable variability in photosynthesis, including large differences in light harvesting proteins and pigment composition. In vivo circular spectropolarimetry enables us to probe the molecular architecture…
Inspired by how cells pack in dense biological tissues, we design 2D and 3D amorphous materials which possess a complete photonic band gap. A physical parameter based on how cells adhere with one another and regulate their shapes can…
Research in photonic computing has flourished due to the proliferation of optoelectronic components on photonic integration platforms. Photonic integrated circuits have enabled ultrafast artificial neural networks, providing a framework for…
Birds rely on active high-acceleration morphing and flapping to navigate complex airflows, but they can also maintain stable fixed-wing postures under persistent atmospheric disturbances. Here, we show that avian wings exhibit aerodynamic…
This postdoctoral thesis starts by reviewing the historic development of airplane structures and high lift devices from an engineering point of view. However, the main purpose of this document is the development of a novel concept for shape…
It remains a challenge to directly print three-dimensional arbitrary shapes that exhibit structural colors at the micrometer scale. Woodpile photonic crystals (WPCs) fabricated via two-photon lithography (TPL) are promising as building…
Most paints contain pigments that absorb light and fade over time. A robust alternative can be found in nature, where structural coloration arises from the interference of light with submicron features. Plant-derived, cellulose nanocrystals…
Inspired by the natural defence strategies of insect wings and plant leaves, nanostructured surfaces have emerged as a promising tool in various fields, including engineering, biomedical sciences, and materials science to combat bacterial…
Recent cellular-level volumetric brain reconstructions have revealed high levels of anatomic complexity. Determining which structural aspects of the brain to focus on, especially when comparing with computational models and other organisms,…
As a system with both profound physics and promising application potentials, the strain-induced self-assembled semiconductor nanostructures have been investigated for decades of years. The optical and electrical properties of this system…
Amphiphilic molecules spontaneously form self-assembled structures of various shapes depending on their molecular structures, the temperature, and other physical conditions. The functionalities of these structures are dictated by their…
Biofilms are complex, self-organized consortia of microorganisms that produce a functional, protective matrix of biomolecules. Physically, the structure of a biofilm can be described as an entangled polymer network which grows and changes…
We optimize multilayered anti-reflective coatings for photovoltaic devices, using modern evolutionary algorithms. We apply a rigorous methodology to show that a given structure, which is particularly regular, emerge spontaneously in a very…
How do mammalian cells that share the same genome exist in notably distinct phenotypes, exhibiting differences in morphology, gene expression patterns, and epigenetic chromatin statuses? Furthermore how do cells of different phenotypes…
Porphyrinic materials show a range of interesting and useful optical and electrical properties. The less well-known sub-class of porphyrin diacids has been used in this work to construct an ionic hybrid organic-inorganic material in…