Dr. Lei Tian Distinguished Lecture Series: Emanuela Del Gado (Georgetown)

Connected matter: the architectures of soft materials Soft materials that we eat, spread, squeeze, or 3D print are typically gels - soft amorphous solids whose structural integrity relies on self-assembled networks of particles, fibers, or agglomerates of proteins, polymers, and colloids. In biology, the space between and within human cells is permeated by self-assembled gel networks, the extra-cellular matrix and the cytoskeleton, whose self- organization and heterogeneity is central to biological functions. Complex network architectures underpin the adaptive, tunable, and nonlinear mechanics