NOW has awarded Ludwig Hoffmann the Rubicon grant. Ludwig will take the grant to the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
where he will join the group of Mahadevan. Congratulations Ludwig!
The 2021 edition of the prize "Giovanni Paladin" of the Società Italiana
di Fisica Statistica (Italian Society of Statistical Physics) for the best PhD thesis in the field of Statistical Physics and Complex
Systems will be awarded to dr. Livio Nicola Carenza who studied at the
University of Bari for his PhD in Theoretical Physics under
the surpervision of prof. Giuseppe Gonnella and graduated with
the dissertation titled "Confined active fluids: morphology, topological defects and flow behaviors". Check out Livio's award ceremony,
featuring 2021 physics Nobel laureate Giorgio Parisi, and seminar.
25 March 2021
A wave of fresh Mediterranean water has brought three new members in our group. Dimitris (from Greece), Jose (from Spain/Catalonia)
and Livio (from Italy). Dimitris got his master from the University of Amsterdam, where he worked,
under the supervision of Ben Freivogel,
on the physics of wormholes in general relativity. Jose, got his master from the University of Barcelona
under the supervision of Jaume Casademunt, working on the hydrodynamics of active liquid crystals. Livio got his PhD at the
University of Bari in the group of
Beppe Gonnella and is
an expert of computational fluid dynamics, Lattice-Boltzmann methods and active matter.
Luca awarded NWO Groot grant
12 March 2020
A team including Luca Giomi, Thomas Schmidt (LION) and Erik Danen (LACDR) has received a 3 million euros
NWO Science Groot grant to unravel the first steps of metastasis.
Luca has been awarded an ERC consolidator grant of 2 milion euro to investigate the hydrodynamics of
hexatic liquid crystals, with applications epithelial tissues.
Today our beloved Melissa defended her thesis and obtained her well deserved PhD
in physics. Melissa will continue her career as a postdoc at Brandeis University
under the supervision of Guillaume Duclos and
Ben Rogers.
Congratulations Dr. Rinaldin and good luck in the States!
Congratulations Dr. You!
25 June 2019
Today, during one of the warmest day every recorded in Leiden, our beloved Zhihong defended his thesis
and obtained his PhD in physics. Zhihong will continue his career as a postdoc in the group of
Cristina Marchetti at UCSB.
Congratulations Dr. You and good luck for your American adventure!
Welcome Andrè, Ludwig, Niladri and Richard
09 June 2019
Four new members joined the group during the Spring semester 2019. Niladri Sarkar is a new postdoc, previously working in
the group of Pierre Sens at the Curie Institute.
Richard Green, a Leiden graduate previously working
in the group of Vincenzo Vitelli, is a new DITP postdoc
in collaboration with Jan de Boer and
Jay Armas at the
University of Amsterdam. Ludwig Hoffmann started in April as new PhD student, after getting his Master degree at the University
of Leipzig under the supervision of Stefan Hollands.
Finally, Andrè van Delft is a new master student.
New paper on PRL
08 June 2019
Our paper "Gometric control of active turbulence on curved topographies", in collaboration with Perry Ellis (Harvard) and
Alberto Fernandez-Nieves (Georgia Tech / University of Barcelona), was published on Physical Review Letters.
Lorentz Professor Tom Lubensky
06 May 2018
We are honored to host Tom Lubensky (University of Pennsylvania) as 64th Lorentz Professor. Tom's busy schedule includes
three lectures on theoretical elasticity,
a workshop
at the Lorentz Center on topology and complex fluids a Colloquium Ehrenfestii.
Click here for an interview to Tom about his career and his experience as Lorentz Professor
Welcome Linda!
06 May 2018
Master student Linda Ravazzano, from the University of Milan, joined the group as part of the
STREAM program. Linda's research,
in collaboration with PhD student Koen Schakenraad, will revolve around unraveling cellular topotaxis
with the help of self-propelled particle models.
New paper on Nature Physics
31 October 2017
Our paper "Curvature-induced defect unbinding and dynamics in active nematic toroids", in collaboration with our friends Perry Ellis and Alberto Fernandez-Nieves
at Georgia Tech, was published on Nature Physics. Read the announcement on
LION website and on
Georgia Tech website.
New paper on PNAS
31 October 2017
Our paper "Cross-talk between topological defects in different fields revealed by nematic microfluidics" was published in
PNAS. Read the announcement on
LION website.
Welcome Ireth!
11 February 2017
Ireth García Aguilar joint the group as new PhD student. Ireth obtained her bachelor in physics from the
Universidad de Costa Rica and later move to Europe as a master student
in the AtoSiM program. Her current research revolves around
shape-shifting droplet and vesicle, with application to biological and biomimetic structures.
Luca awarded Vidi grant
13 May 2016
Luca has been awarded an NWO Vidi grant of 800,000 euro to theoretically investigate artificial cell-like structures.
Piermarco Fonda, from SISSA,
joined the group as a new postdoc. Piermarco is a polyhedric theorist with a background in particle physics, string theory and
holography and will address various challenging problems in membranes physics. Our long term goal is to find formal connections
between the geometrical aspects of holographic entanglement and complex membranes.
Koen wins the Lorentz Afstudeerprijs
24 November 2015
Koen Schakenraad has won this year's Lorentz Afstudeerprijs for his master research on DNA mechanics. The Lorentz Afstudeerprijs (Lorentz graduation prize) is a prize
awarded annually by the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW) to a recently graduated theoretical physics master student with an outstanding thesis.
Melissa Rinaldin, from University of Padova,
joined the group as a new PhD student. Melissa is a theoretical/experimental biophysicist with expertise on molecular dynamics
simulations and experimental membranes biophysics. In synergy with
Daniela Kraft's experimental group, Melissa
will investigate the interplay between curvature and the organization of lipid domains in membranes supported by colloidal
and micro-fabricated scaffolds.
Welcome Zhihong You!
29 August 2015
Zhihong You, from Beijing Normal University, has joined the group as a new PhD student. Zhihong has previously worked
on active matter and optics. When he was only an undergraduate Zhihong developed a new method to measure the refractive
index of a liquid by analyzing how light is scattered when the liquid is confined in a capillary. Check out Zhihong's
optics papers on American Journal of Physics and
Applied Optics.
Joint theoretical/experimental PhD position available
3 August 2015
One PhD position is available for a joint project between the groups of Luca Giomi and
Daniela Kraft at the Casimir Research School at Leiden University.
The project will investigate the interplay between curvature and the organization of lipid domains in membranes supported by colloidal
and micro-fabricated scaffolds. The student will use a combined experimental and computational approach to develop a fundamental framework
and unravel the biologically relevant correlation between local geometry and membrane composition.
The four year position is available immediately, with latest starting date in June 2016. Candidates should hold an MSc degree in physics,
physical chemistry or material science, and should have affinity for experimental and computational work in soft matter.
Welcome Daniel Pearce!
11 March 2015
Daniel Pearce, former graduate student at the University of Warwick has joined the group as a new post-doc.
Daniel is an expert of collective behavior and has recently proposed a number of innovating ideas about bird flocking. Check out Daniel talking about
his PhD work on flocking on BBC.
Koen Schakenraad will join the group on April 1st
7 March 2015
Koen Schakenraad, from TU Eindhoven, will join the group as a new Huygens fellow. Koen's PhD research will focus on cell mechanics and will be
performed in collaboration with Roeland Merks at the
Mathematical Institute.
One postdoc and one PhD position available
13 October 2014
One postdoc and one PhD position is available. The candidate should be comfortable with both analytical and numerical methods. Qualified persons are advised to send
their CV and names of references. The appointment can start at anytime.
From liquid crystals to proto-cells
5 September 2014
Our paper "Topology and dynamics of active nematic vesicles" (Keber et al., Science 345, 1135) has been selected as cover
story in Science. The paper, is the result of an enthusiastic collaboration with the experimental groups of Andreas Bausch (Technische Universität München)
and Zvonimir Dogic (Brandeis University).
