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Beller Research Group
for Soft Matter and Biological Physics
for Soft Matter and Biological Physics
Our group explores the basic physics underlying complex phenomena in ordered soft materials, biological matter, and living systems. We are part of a vibrant and expanding community of Soft and Biological Matter researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Department of Physics & Astronomy.
We use theoretical approaches combining statistical physics, elasticity theory, and material geometry and topology, alongside computational approaches such as mesoscale relaxational methods, coarse-grained Brownian dynamics, and stochastic front propagation simulations. Spatial self-organization, complex geometries, and topological defects are recurring themes in our research. Much of our work is in close collaboration with experimentalists from Physics, Materials Science, and Chemical Engineering backgrounds.
Our current research areas include:#
Active matter with liquid crystalline order
How do emergent collective motions depend on material geometry, topology, and non-equilibrium force generation?
Self-assembly in ordered soft materials
How do material order, interfacial effects, and chirality determine spontaneous spatial patterning and structure formation in liquid crystals and soft solids?
Biological population genetics
What can statistical physics teach us about a population’s changing spatial structure and its evolutionary consequences?
Latest news#
Jimmy Gonzalez Nuñez speaks at Isaac Newton Institute
October 14, 2022
Jimmy Gonzalez Nunez on "the Role of Quenched Noise in the Evolution of Populations undergoing Range Expansions" with many cool simulations @NewtonInstitute pic.twitter.com/fr0WN2M1M5
— Marco Mauri (@MarcoMauri81) October 14, 2022
Population genetics in active matter paper published in Frontiers in Physics
July 12, 2022
Active nematic dynamics in growing colonies of immotile bacteria may help slow the population’s loss of genetic diversity — paper published in Frontiers in Physics. 
Tubular crystals paper published in PNAS
February 2, 2022
Crystalline sheets rolled up into tubes can be programmed with reconfigurable shapes through the placement and motion of defects in the crystalline lattice — paper published in PNAS.
Jimmy Gonzalez Nuñez awarded DBIO Shirley Chan Student Travel Grant
January 26, 2022
Jimmy Gonzalez Nuñez awarded a DBIO Shirley Chan Student Travel Grant for the APS March Meeting!
Active matter paper published in PNAS
December 21, 2021
Mobility of motor proteins enhances emergent active nematic dynamics in a microtubule gliding assay — paper with Hirst, Dasbiswas, and Gopinathan groups (UC Merced) published in PNAS.
LC spontaneous chirality paper published in Soft Matter
December 1, 2021
In nematic liquid crystals with low twist elastic constant, spontaneous chirality changes the orientations of rod-like colloidal particles embedded in the fluid — paper with Yodh (Penn) and Collings (Swarthmore) groups published in Soft Matter.
Crystallization on a cylinder paper published in ACS Applied Nano Materials
October 11, 2021
A new kind of defect found in crystallization on a cylinder (or: “the frustration of meeting yourself on the other side”) — paper with Manoharan and Rycroft groups (Harvard University) published in ACS Applied Nano Materials.
