Besides the equilibrium gas, liquid, and crystal phases, many structures in biology are out-of-equilibrium network-like structures. These structures exhibit peculiar mechanical properties. We investigate their formation and mechanics using model protein and colloidal particles whose attraction we adjust with external control.
We obtain insight into the ubiquitous gelation phenomenon using temperature-tunable critical Casimir forces. These allow us to reversibly adjust the interaction of the particles to aggregate them and to follow the particle-scale aggregation process in-situ. Read more …
See also our recent publication in Nature communications (2020)
Protein gelation is central in biology, health and food science. We use protein microparticles to follow the protein gelation process on large length and time scales. The gelation is induced by slow acidification, shifting the particles towards their isoelectric point, thus lifting their electrostatic stabilization. Read more …
See our recent publication in Science of Food (2021)