Soft Matter Blog

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Review article on ‘The physics of tissue patterning and extracellular matrix organisation: how cells join forces’.  The authors discuss how cells interact with other cells and with substrates to form complex tissues and organs. Important examples are the patterning of growth and differentiation within tissues and the long-range organisation of the extracellular matrix. P. Kollmannsberger, C. M. Bidan, J. W. C. Dunlop and P. Fratzl, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05588G

Self-organisation of dendrimers is extensively modeled through molecular dynamics simulations of a coarse grained dendron model to show how the thermodynamic conditions play a decisive role on its self-organization. A global phase diagram for dendrons which shows the relation between columnar and supramolecular sphere phases was also realised. Andrew J. Crane and Erich A. Müller, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 7465-7476, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05599B

An electrorheological (ER) effect in a single phase ER suspension in microgravity is reported for the first time. Potential applications of single-phase ER fluids may be found in outer-space stations with micro-gravity environment, serving as a tunable friction-generating material. Guoqing Zhao, Shuyu Chen, Weijia Wen, Fumiaki Miyamaru, Mitsuo W. Takeda, Jianding Yu and Ping Sheng, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 7198-7200, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05736G

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Liquid Marbles are stabilised on the surface of an acidic liquid due to hydrophobic components. However, once the pH reaches 5.5 the stabilising chains become to hydrophilic and the sphere collapses. The organic polymer particles were made-up of polyacid-stabilised polystyrene latex. Damien Dupin, Kate L. Thompson and Steven P. Armes, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 6797-6800,DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05889D

‘Liquid marble’ deposited onto (a) a glass slide and (b) the surface of liquid water in a Petri dish.

Partially fluorinated amphiphiles and their interaction with biomembrane lipids in Langmuir monolayers is studied in this Hot Article. This provides fundamental insights into the molecular function of biomembrane components and support for the biomedical use of fluorinated materials. Shorter perfluoroalkyl chains may have more potential for clinical use than higher fluorinated chains. Hiromichi Nakahara, Marie Pierre Krafft, Akira Shibata and Osamu Shibata, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 7325-7333, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05647F

Cross-slot extensional flow oscillatory rheometry, an opto-microfluidic technique, is used to quantify the response of elastic fluids to extensional flows. This understanding is necessary for optimising fluid composition for technological applications such as ink-jet printing. Elastic fluids are complex fluids which respond to applied stress with a combination of solid-like elasticity and liquid-like ability to flow. Simon J. Haward, Vivek Sharma and Jeffrey A. Odell, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05493G

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Layer-by-layer (LbL) assemblies in nanoporous templates and their benefits for synthesising complex and functional nanotubular structures are described in this Review. 1D Nanostructures fabricated by the LbL nanotemplating strategy have applications in various technological areas, and are part of an emerging area of “soft nanotechnology”. Omar Azzaroni and K. H. Aaron Lau, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05561E.

Gelation of semiflexible polyelectrolytes by multivalent counterions: Filamentous polyelectrolyte viruses have been used to study liquid crystal phase transitions and counterion-mediated condensation into bundles. Longer filamentous phage Pf1 was found to form viscoelastic gels at concentrations well below its theoretical isotropic–nematic transition in solutions containing multivalent counterions. Elisabeth M. Huisman, Qi Wen, Yu-Hsiu Wang, Katrina Cruz, Guntars Kitenbergs, Kaspars Ērglis, Andris Zeltinš, Andrejs Cēbers and Paul A. Janmey, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05553D.

Organic thin film transistors: The reason behind improved performance of organic thin film transistor devices with 6,13-(triisopropylsilylethynyl) pentacene (TIPS-pentacene) is investigated in this Hot Article. Aggregation and cluster formation of TIPS-pentacene was observed in solution well before the solubility limit. Marie-Beatrice Madec, Sean Butterworth, Pablo Taboada, Richard Heenan, Mark Geoghegan and Stephen G. Yeates, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 7065-7070, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05842H.

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Wrinkling of materials can generate periodic nano or microstructures that are crucial for technological applications. Here, the phenomena is studied in ultra thin layers where Van der Waals interactions determine the morphologies. Findings indicate that wrinkling might not be the best way to investigate chain dynamics in these systems… Hugues Vandeparre, Simon Desbief, Roberto Lazzaroni, Cyprien Gay and Pascal Damman, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 6878-6882, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05411B

Holograms of colloidal spheres  were recorded with holographic video microscopy and analyzed with light scattering theory. Individual spheres’ sizes and refractive indexes were measured with part-per-thousand resolution, which was used to estimate each sphere’s porosity. Characterisation of single colloidal spheres is important for applications such as medical diagnostics and photonics. Fook Chiong Cheong, Ke Xiao, David J. Pine and David G. Grier, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 6816-6819, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05577A

Droplet-induced budding in biological membranes is when a liquid drop on the surface of the membrane transforms from being partially wrapped to completely wrapped (see below). This cellular process is important for endocytosis (for communication between organelles) and viral replication. Here, a novel budding mechanism where the driving force is the interfacial tensions between the aqueous phases is investigated. Halim Kusumaatmaja and Reinhard Lipowsky, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 6914-6919, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05499F

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Mimicking the natural ECM: Review article on self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) for cell culture.  SAMs have emerged as promising tools for mimicking the extracellular matrix and can be precisely tailored for specific cell culture applications. Gregory A. Hudalla and William L. Murphy, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05596H.

Block liposomes for gene storage and delivery: A cryo-TEM study on the formation of block liposomes from membranes comprising mixtures of membrane curvature-stabilizing multivalent lipids. Cationic lipids such as these are important for nonviral delivery of nucleic acids. Alexandra Zidovska, Kai K. Ewert, Joel Quispe, Bridget Carragher, Clinton S. Potter and Cyrus R. Safinya, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05481C.

Surfactochromicity? Cationic water soluble polythiophene polyelectrolyte was complexed with the surfactant sodium dodecylsulfate. The surfactant could be used to control the photophysical properties of the complexes in water. Matti Knaapila, Rachel C. Evans, Andrea Gutacker, Vasil M. Garamus, Noémi K. Székely, Ullrich Scherf and Hugh D. Burrows, Soft Matter, 2011, DOI: 10.1039/C1SM05492A