News: Faculty

The Murugan group found that a DNA system was capable of pattern recognition through the process of self-assembly. Their paper in Nature suggests this may be a pathway for decision-making in biological systems.

The Tian group invented granular hydrogels, a potent new medical technology. Their Nature Chemical Engineering publication describes how they modified hydrogel patch materials to release cell-sized granules that can deliver treatment directly to the cells.

Dam Thanh Son and Luca Delacrétaz helped organize a 3-day workshop from Oct. 27-29 on Non-Fermi Liquids: Recent Developments and Future Prospects. The lectures are available on Panopto.

The Gardel group discovered the limit of cell division is the volume of the genome, rather than the cell cycle. Their paper in Cell found epithelial division stopped at this size, as shown in the picture, to protect genes from damage.

The Voth group revealed that compression of the microtubule lattice is essential to controlling shrinkage of its length. Their publication in PNAS models the reaction—see the image for an example—to show how compression lowers the energy barrier of hydrolysis.

The Chin group observed superchemistry in action by capturing Cesium atoms in a tuned magnetic field. Their paper in Nature showed that the dynamics of these reactions followed a three body model, as seen in this figure.

The Guyot-Sionnest group created quantum dots that emit infrared with quantum efficiency (EQE) of 4.5%—close to commercial LEDs. Their work, published in Nature, proposes a cascading mechanism, shown in the figure to the left.

The Park group designed 2D wafers with the ability to guide visible light on a millimeter scale. Their publication in Science shows how they use different surface features, as shown in this image, to enable the wafers to refract, focus, or modulate the intensity of light.