Archive for March, 2014

SOFT Matter – from fundamental aspects to industrial perspectives

The Soft-Fire 2014 conference will be held on July 29 – August 8 | Cargèse, Corse | France

Soft condensed matter is the subject of a large number of investigations all around the world, both from a fundamental point of view and from a more applied side, due to the large number of practical possibilities relying on the aptitude of soft matter to provide large responses to small sollicitations.

Academic talks (confirmed)

  • N. Balsara (Univ. Berkeley) : Polymers for electronics
  • P. Chaikin (NY University, USA): Active matter
  • E. Charlaix (Univ. Grenoble, France): Confined systems: mechanical measurements
  • J. Fourkas (Univ. Maryland): Optical techniques for biophysics
  • M.-C. Jullien (ESPCI, France) : Microfluidics
  • C. Knobler (UCLA, USA) : Physical virology
  • K. Kremer (MPI Polymerforshung, Mainz) : Statistical physics – Numerical simulations
  • R. Kimmich (Univ. Ulm, Germany): Spectroscopic techniques for the examination of molecular dynamics in mesoscopically confined fluids
  • O. Lavrentovich (Kent State Univ.): Dynamics and liquid crystals
  • H. Lekkerkerker (Univ. Utrecht, Netherland): Self organization in Colloidal Suspensions of Spheres, Rods, Plates and Boards
  • C. Sanchez (Collège de France, Paris): Hybrid materials
  • M. Stamm (Institutes für Physikalische Chemie und Physik der Polymere, Leibniz, Germany): Concepts to save energy with polymers
  • C. Wilhelm (CNRS, Université Denis Diderot): Bionanomagnetism

Please see here for fees for registration and Abstract submission and pre-registration

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PN & G Conference 2014, Tokyo, Japan

The PN & G 2014 Conference will be held from 10-14th November 2014 at the Ito International Research Center, Tokyo, Japan.

The joint symposium of the 22nd Polymer Networks Group Meeting (PNG) and the 10th Gel Symposium sponsored by Institute for Solid State Physics, The University of Tokyo, (PN&G2014) will provide a platform for scientific exchange in all areas relevant to theory and simulation, fabrication, structure, properties, and industrial/medical applications of gels. This symposium will focus on “Cutting Edge of Chemistry, Physics, and Engineering in Polymer Networks (PhysChemEng).”

A list of Plenary and Keynote speakers can be found here.

Please see the conference website to register your attendance or submit an abstract.

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Soft Matter now indexed in Medline!

We are delighted to announce that Soft Matter has been accepted for inclusion in the prestigious MEDLINE abstracting / indexing service.

All articles published in Soft Matter will now be included, and searchable using PubMed. This will provide even greater visibility to the great research being published in the journal, particularly in the bio/medical communities.

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Proteins, cells, and tissues in patterned environments: themed issue now published!

The Soft Matter themed issue on Proteins, cells, and tissues in patterned environments is now online! Guest Editors Ulrich Schwarz (University of Heidelberg), Celeste Nelson (Princeton University) and Pascal Silberzan (Institut Curie) introduce the issue in their Editorial.

Over the last two decades, the role of spatial coordination has increasingly moved into the focus of researchers working on biological systems. Using tools from materials science, it has been revealed that the amazing capacity of biological systems to organize themselves strongly depends on the way the environment is spatially structured. For this themed issue, researchers from the biophysics, biophysical chemistry, cell biology and bioengineering communities were invited to contribute studies based on spatially controlled environments which can be used as modulators, control elements or sensors for the self-organized assembly of proteins, cells and tissue. Below are just some of the excellent papers we received:

On the cover:

Alignment of nematic and bundled semiflexible polymers in cell-sized confinement José Alvarado, Bela M. Mulder and Gijsje H. Koenderink  

Communications:

Co- and distinct existence of Tris-NTA and biotin functionalities on individual and adjacent micropatterned surfaces generated by photo-destruction Atanu Biswas, Abhijit Saha, Dhruba Ghosh, Batakrishna Jana and Surajit Ghosh  

Papers:

Three-dimensional patterning of multiple cell populations through orthogonal genetic control of cell motility Joanna L. MacKay, Anshum Sood and Sanjay Kumar  

Oscillations of Min-proteins in micropatterned environments: a three-dimensional particle-based stochastic simulation approach Max Hoffmann and Ulrich S. Schwarz  

Cellular self-organization on micro-structured surfaces Peter J. F. Röttgermann, Alicia Piera Alberola and Joachim O. Rädler 

Optimal shapes and stresses of adherent cells on patterned substrates Shiladitya Banerjee, Rastko Sknepnek and M. Cristina Marchetti  

Intracellular stresses in patterned cell assemblies Michel Moussus, Christelle der Loughian, David Fuard, Marie Courçon, Danielle Gulino-Debrac, Hélène Delanoë-Ayari and Alice Nicolas  

Hyperswarming adaptations in a bacterium improve collective motility without enhancing single cell motility Maxime Deforet, Dave van Ditmarsch, Carlos Carmona-Fontaine and Joao B. Xavier  

Find the full issue here!

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Soft Matter Lectureship: Nominations close this Friday 14th March

There are only a few days left to nominate someone for the Soft Matter Lectureship!

A reminder of the details:

Qualification

To be eligible for the Soft Matter Lectureship, the candidate should be in the earlier stages of their scientific career, typically within 15 years of attaining their doctorate or equivalent degree, and will have made a significant contribution to the field.

Description

The recipient of the award will be asked to present a lecture three times, one of which will be located in the home country of the recipient. The Soft Matter Editorial Office will provide the sum of £1000 to the recipient for travel and accommodation costs.

The award recipient will be presented with the award at one of the three award lectures. They will also be asked to contribute a lead article to the journal and will have their work showcased on the back cover of the issue in which their article is published.

Selection

The recipient of the award will be selected and endorsed by the Soft Matter Editorial Board.

Nominations

Those wishing to make a nomination should send details of the nominee, including a brief C.V. (no longer than 2 pages A4) together with a letter (no longer than 2 pages A4) supporting the nomination, to the Soft Matter Editorial Office (softmatter-rsc@rsc.org) by 14 March 2014.  Self-nomination is not permitted.

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Hot Articles for March!

 

 


Rheology dynamics of aggregating colloidal suspensions
Mikael Mohtaschemi, Antti Puisto, Xavier Illa and Mikko J. Alava 
 
 

 These papers are free to access until 28th April 2014
 


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