Computational Soft and Living Matter Group

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Computational Soft & Living Matter Group @ CU 91��Ҹ��

Our mission

Soft and living matter derive their remarkable properties from fluctuations and collective interactions among many constituents. We seek to understand how these microscopic processes give rise to emergent mechanical behaviors, such as viscoelasticity and fracture, and to complex dynamical phenomena, including remodeling, morphodynamics, and growth in living systems.

Approach��

We build theoretical and computational frameworks based on statistical mechanics, continuum mechanics, and applied mathematics to understand how interactions at small scales shape the mechanics and dynamics of soft and living systems. We concentrate on the three research thrusts below:

Polymer Networks

We aim to understand how the architecture and transient dynamics of molecular and fibrillar networks, ubiquitous in natural and engineered materials, give rise to their complex mechanical behaviors, from rheology to fracture or self-repair, in order to harness these principles for next-generation polymers and biomaterials.

Collective Matter

We seek to understand how collections of living agents, from confluent cell layers to fire ant rafts, interact locally to produce remarkable collective behaviors, with the goal of decoding the physical rules that govern self-organization, morphogenesis, and the emergence of material-like properties in living aggregates.

Growth & Remodeling

We seek to understand how cells interact with their mechanical environment, remodel the surrounding network, and collectively drive the growth and organization of living materials, from engineered constructs and organoids to blood vessels, with the goal of predicting tissue morphogenesis, disease progression, and aneurysm rupture.

Impact and innovation��

Our work aims to transform how we predict, control, and harness the behavior of soft and living matter. Through close partnerships with experimental researchers and industry, we translate fundamental theory into new strategies, technologies, and applications.

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