Registration is closed

The Dutch national research funding agency NWO, Unilever and AMOLF are joining forces to organize an international symposium on Soft Matter Biomimetics. The symposium will take place on 16 November 2018 at the NWO Institute AMOLF in Amsterdam.

The symposium will focus on the translation of design concepts from living matter to designer soft materials. Cells and tissues comprise soft matter with unique functional properties: they are mechanically durable, adaptive, self-healing, and they can actively change shape and drive motion. In recent years there has been a rapidly growing interest in the physics of biological soft matter. In parallel, there has been a growing interest among the chemistry and materials science community to translate biological design principles to new materials such as ultra-tough hydrogels, stimuli-responsive materials and active materials that dissipate chemical energy. There are many exciting applications of soft matter biomimetics in areas ranging from food-structuring to regenerative medicine, soft robotics, and drug delivery devices.

In this symposium we aim to bring together leading scientists from the areas of soft matter physics, metamaterials, multiscale modelling, supramolecular chemistry, biophysics, and biology. We anticipate an audience of 80-100 scientists from the Netherlands and we are setting up an inspiring programme with around 10 international invited speakers.

Organizing committee:

• AMOLF: Prof. dr. Gijsje Koenderink, Prof. dr. Bela Mulder, Prof. dr. Huib Bakker, Prof. dr. Sander Tans
• Unilever R&D: Prof. dr. Simeon Stoyanov, Prof. dr. John van Duynhoven, Dr. Rob Groot, Dr. Luben Arnaudov
• University of Amsterdam: Prof. dr. Daniel Bonn, Prof. dr. Peter Schall
• Wageningen University & Research: Prof. dr. Jasper van der Gucht, Prof. dr. Frans Leermakers

Program

9:00-9:20            Coffee/Tea
9:20-9:30            Welcome by Gijsje Koenderink (AMOLF)

9:30-10:00          Orlin Velev (North Carolina State University, USA) Novel nature-inspired soft matter features: particles with “gecko legs” and hydrogels with skin-like vascularization

10:00-10:30        Paul Janmey (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
Viscous dissipation in soft substrates affects focal adhesion formation, cell morphology, and motility

10:30-11:00       Break

11:00-11:30        Patricia Dankers (Eindhoven University of Technology)
Dynamic reciprocity in supramolecular systems: engineering the cell-material interface

11:30-12:00        Marleen Kamperman (University of Groningen)
Bioinspired complex coacervate-based adhesives

12:00-13:00       Lunch
13:00-14:00       Poster session

14:00-14:30        Nathalie Katsonis (University of Twente)
Light-responsive biomimetic springs

14:30-15:00        Tuomas Knowles (University of Cambridge, UK)
Artificial functional materials from natural proteins

15:00-15:30        Corentin Coulais (University of Amsterdam)
From mechanical metamaterials to machine materials

15:30-16:00        Break

16:00-16:30        Peter Fisher (ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
Tailoring emulsions for controlled lipid release – establishing in vitro-in vivo correlation for digestion of lipids

16:30-17:00        Julian Bent (Unilever R&D, UK)
Protein structures in ice-cream

17:00-18:00       Drinks
18:00                   Closing

Click here for a pdf of the program

Download the poster list

Symposium location
AMOLF, Science Park 104, Amsterdam

Contact
Erny Lammers & Petra Rodriguez | Communications AMOLF
SoftBiomimetics@amolf.nl