Harvard University's MRSEC    

  

  

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Research Nuggets
  

2008

BASF Advanced Research Initiative at Harvard

Squishy, Gooey, Stretchy: The Science of Making Pizza
Holiday Lecture for Families

H.A. Stone and A. Rowat

Defects in Thin Nematic Shells
D.R. Nelson and D.A. Weitz

Biomimetic Thin Film Muscles
K.K. Parker and G.M. Whitesides

 

Behavior of Microtubules in Cells
L. Mahadevan and D.A. Weitz

Shear Transformation Zones in Colloidal Glasses
F. Spaepen and D.A. Weitz


2007

Rheometer Facility
Industrial Outreach Workshop
Holiday Lecture for Children and Parents
Howard A. Stone
Gender Equity Workshop
Cynthia M. Friend
A Biophysical and Biomechanical Analysis of Worm Motile Behavior
Aravintham Samuel and Lakshminarayan Mahadevan
Optimal Vein Density in Artificial and Real Leaves
M. Zwienicki, N.M. Holbrook, L. Mahadevan, and D.A. Weitz
How Bumps on Whale Flippers Delay Stall
Ernst van Nierop, Silas Alben, and Michael P. Brenner
Surface Tension Driven Motion
Jacques Dumais
Optical Tweezers
Mara Prentiss
Probing Neuronal Origin of Behavior in C. Elegans
Samuel Chung, Aravinthan Samuel, Eric Mazur, and Jonathan Kamler
Hybrid Structures of Hard and Soft Materials of Small Features
Zhigang Suo
Fundamental Structural Rearrangements in a Flowing Glass
Frans Spaepen and David A. Weitz

2006

The P-nDSC: A Combinatorial Approach to Thermal Analysis of Materials
Colloidal Crystals Nanoindentation of Colloidal Crystals
Nano Laser Surgery Sub-Cellular Nanosurgery in Live Cells Using Ultrashort Laser Pulses
Cells on Asymmetric Patterns Cells on Asymmetric Patterns
Nematic Textures in Spherical Shells
Microfluidic Assembly of Colloidal Armor Microfluidic Assembly of Colloidal Armor
Surface Tension Rockets Surface Tension Rockets
Self-Assembly of Supported and Unsupported Thin Films
Public Presentations
Postdoctoral Professional Development:  Cool Labs, Hot Topics at the Museum of Science, Boston
Frontiers of Soft Condensed Matter Workshop:
Inter-MRSEC and Industry Partnership
Creation of New High Tech Jobs

2005

Double Emulsions: Droplets inside Droplets
D.A. Weitz
Public Presentations/Strange Matter Exhibit
Enriching Teacher Professional Development and K12 Education through RET
A Low-Cost and Portable Medical and Diagnostic Devices Targeted for the Third World
G.M. Whitesides and D.A. Edwards
Biomechanics at the Scale of the Cell and below Using Laser Surgery
D. Ingber, E. Mazur and D.A. Weitz
Direct Visualization of Shear in a Colloidal Glass
F. Spaepen and D.A. Weitz
Crawling of C. Elegans: How a Worm’s Motion Leads to Fundamental Understanding at the Interface of Biomechanics and Neuroscience
A. Samuel and L. Mahadevan

2004

Career Development for Young Scientists
Educational Programs
Fracture in Drying Nanoparticle Suspensions
Weitz, Hutchinson, and Xie

2003

From Bosnian Emigré to Graduate Study.
Tanja Hadzic, (Department of Immunolgy, University of Iowa)
How Research Opportunities Shape Scientific Careers.
Dr. Nadya Mason, (Society of Junior Fellows, Harvard University).
colloidosomes Colloidosomes: Self-Assembled Permeable Solid Shells
Weitz
Packing Spheres on a Spherical Surface: New Solution to a 100-year-old Problem
Nelson and Weitz

2002

Attractive Interactions Between Like-Charged Colloidal Particle on Surfaces Attractive Interactions Between Like-Charged Colloidal Particle on Surfaces
Michael Brenner and David Weitz
Stress Evolution During E-Beam Deposition of Amorphous Alumina Stress Evolution During E-Beam Deposition of Amorphous Alumina
Frans Spaepen
Novel Laser Patterning of Silicon Surfaces Novel Laser Patterning of Silicon Surfaces
Cynthia Friend and Eric Mazur
CARS Imaging of Cells
Sunney Xie

2001

Avalanche Photodiode Avalanche Photodiode using Microtextured Silicon
Eric Mazur and Cynthia Friend
Ab-initio Multiscale Simulation of Piezoelectric Response Ab-initio Multiscale Simulation of Piezoelectric Response
Efthimios Kaxiras and Jim Rice
Fabrication of Complex, 3D Microstructures Fabrication of Complex, 3-D Microstructures
George Whitesides
Photograph showing a microfluidic device we used for generating gradients of a green and red dyes in solution. Generating Microgradients
George Whitesides and Howard Stone
Central slice (left) and side view (right) of a cell photodisrupted by 100-fs laser pulses seen by fluorescence confocal microscopy. Photodisruption in Cells using Femtosecond Laser Pulses
Eric Mazur and Donald Ingber
Side-view SEM images of structures produced in bulk glass using 110-fs laser pulses focused by a 0.45 NA microscope objective. Micromachining Transparent Materials with Femtosecond Laser Pulses
Eric Mazur
Atom Cloud Trapped by Magnetic Laminate inside a Magneto Optical Trap
Mara Prentiss
The upper part of the figure shows the computed electron wave flow over the potential shown in the lower part (high potential is white, low is green). Electron Flow in a High Mobility Two Dimensional Electron Gas
Eric Heller and Robert Westervelt
The upper part of the figure shows the computed electron wave flow over the potential shown in the lower part (high potential is white, low is green). Fluctuating Spin g-tensor in Small Metal Grains
Bertrand Halperin
Ballistic Electron Emission Microscopy and Spectroscopy. BEEM/BEES.
Venky Narayanamurti
Three-dimensional networks of fluid channels in PDMS Three-dimensional Networks of Fluid Channels in PDMS
George Whitesides
Optical micrograph of optical waveguides Optical Waveguides
Eric Mazur
Uniform nanowires Ultrathin Uniform Nanowires
Michael Tinkham
Micro-electromagnet Atom Guide Micro-electromagnet Atom Guide
Mara Prentiss and Robert Westervelt
GaSb Self-assembled Quantum Dots on GaAs GaSb Self-assembled Quantum Dots on GaAs
Venky Narayanamurti

  

Colloidosomes: Self-Assembled Permeable Solid Shells

A new approach in exploiting self-assembly to create novel structures with building blocks of larger length scale was created in the work of Weitz and his collaborators, who created structures they call colloidosomes. These structures are made by adsorbing colloidal particles at the interface of an emulsion droplet, gently sintering the particles to stabilize the structure, and then transferring the larger droplet into a new continuous-phase of fluid which is the same as the inner fluid, thereby resulting in a solid shell with potential utility for encapsulation. An electron micrograph of a colloidosome is shown in the figure. In addition, by looking with higher magnification, the sintered layers between particles are clearly visible, as well as the remaining pores; the size of these pores can be simply controlled by the heating rate, the ripening time and the size of the colloidal particles, providing a simple means of assembling new structures that may prove useful for encapsulation.
Last Modified May 19, 2008.  Graphics by Experimental Soft Condensed Matter Group.   Website by Carole Hoppe Mezian.