I am a tenured assistant professor and lead the cutting-edge Active Soft Matter Lab at the TNW Faculty, University of Twente. Our lab is developing novel biomimetic models, including artificial microswimmers and active lipid vesicles. These minimal models allow us to delve into the complexities of systems far from equilibrium: (i) exploring how to control materials by powering them from within, understanding how order can arise from disorder [1], (ii) examining lipid membrane's response to highly localized forces and their mechanics [2-4], and (iii) studying the transport of artificial microswimmers in complex fluids, all through the lens of soft matter science.
🎉 Exciting News! 🎉
I’m thrilled and deeply honored to receive an ERC Consolidator Grant(#ERCCoG) from @ERC_Research! 🙌 This incredible opportunity will allow me to explore and design synthetic active materials with life-like functionalities—a major step toward revolutionary advancements in material science.
📢 Stay tuned! PhD and Postdoc positions will be opening soon—join us on this exciting journey to shape the future of materials!
https://www.utwente.nl/en/news/2024/12/1879979/erc-consolidator-grants-for-protein-and-smart-material-research
Join us in pushing the boundaries of what is possible in active soft-matter research.
https://www.activesoftmatter.nl/
Selected References:
Organisations
We are interested in addressing fundamental questions in the dynamic self-organization of living matter, bio-membrane mechanics, and active particle transport in complex fluids from a soft matter perspective. Our group research expertise lies at the interface between the physicochemical manipulation (e.g., interaction potential, shape, and chemistry) of soft matter systems (e.g., lipid membranes, active vesicles, artificial microswimmers or self-propelled particles, colloids, nanoparticles, and emulsions) and the fabrication of bio-inspired functional materials.
4. Thrilled to share that our collaborative work on binary colloidal glasses has just been published in Physical Review Letters, PRL
https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.132.218202
3. Excited to share that our work is featured on the cover page of ACS Nano!!!
https://pubs.acs.org/toc/ancac3/18/15
2. Mar 2024: Thrilled to shae that our work on Role of Shape in Particle-Lipid Membrane Interactions: From Surfing to Full Engulfment is just published in
ACS Nano https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.3c11106?ref=pdf
1. Excited to share that our work on A colloidal viewpoint on the finite sphere packing problem: the sausage catastrophe, is published in Nature Communications, 2023.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43722-0
Highlighted our work in Applied physics and mathematics focus theme@Nature Communications
https://www.nature.com/collections/hjhbgijcei
Highlighted our work in Nature ReviewsPhsyics by Editor's pick
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-024-00687-3
Highlighted in New Scientist magazine
Selected publications:
1. S. Marín-Aguilar, F. Camerin, S. van der Ham, A. Feasson, H. R. Vutukuri & Marjolein Dijkstra A colloidal viewpoint on the finite sphere packing problem: the sausage catastrophe, is published in Nature Communications, 2023.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43722-0
2. H. R. Vutukuri, M. Hoore, C. Abaurrea-Velasco, A. Dutto, T. Auth, D. A. Fedosov, G. Gompper,J. Vermant, Active particles induce large shape deformations in giant lipid vesicles, Nature, 586, 52-56 (2020). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2730-x
3. H. R. Vutukuri, M. Hoore, C. Abaurrea-Velasco, A. Dutto, T. Auth, D. A. Fedosov, G. Gompper,J. Vermant, Active particles induce large shape deformations in giant lipid vesicles, Nature, 586, 52-56 (2020). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2730-x
4. H. R. Vutukuri, M. Licski, E. Lauga, J. Vermant, Light-switchable propulsion of active particles with reversible interactions, Nature Communi. 11, 2628(2020).
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-15764-1
5. H. R. Vutukuri, B. Bram, M. Dijkstra, and W. T. S. Huck, Rational design and dynamics of self-propelled colloidal bead chains: from rotators to flagella, Scientific Reports, 7, 16758 (2017). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-16731-5
6. A. F. Demirörs, P. Beltramo, H. R. Vutukuri; Colloidal Switches by Electric and Magnetic Fields, ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 9, 17238 (2017). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.7b02619
7. H. R. Vutukuri, Z. Peseleir, M. Dijkstra and W. T. S. Huck, Dynamic self-organization of side-propelling colloidal rods: experiments and simulations, Soft Matter, 12, 9657(2016).
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2016/SM/C6SM01760F#!divAbstract
8. H. R. Vutukuri, S. Badiare, D. Winter, A. Imhof, and A. van Blaaderen, Directed self-assembly of micron-sized gold nanoplatelets into oriented flexible stacks with tunable interpolate distance, Nano Letters, 15, 5617 (2015). https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b02384
9. H. R. Vutukuri, A. Imhof, and A. van Blaaderen, Fabrication of polyhedral particles from spherical particles and their self-assembly into rotator phases, Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed. 13830(2014). (Won the competition and selected as the cover page of the SoftmatterWorld calendar 2015). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/anie.201409594
10. H. R. Vutukuri, F. Smallenburg, A. Imhof, A. van Blaaderen, and M. Dijkstra; An experimental and simulation study on the self-assembly of colloidal cubes in external electric fields, Soft Matter. 10, 9110 (2014).
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2014/sm/c4sm01778a
11. S. Mellouli, B. Monterroso, H. R. Vutukuri, E. Brinke, V. Chokkalingam, W. T. S. Huck; Self-organization of the bacterial cell-division protein FtsZ in confined environments, Soft Matter, 9, 10943(2013). https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2013/sm/c3sm51163d
12. H. R. Vutukuri, A. F. Demirörs, B. Peng, P. D. J. van Oostrum, A. Imhof, and A. van Blaaderen; Colloidal analogues of charged and uncharged polymer chains with tunable stiffness, Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed. 51, 11249 (2012). (Featured on the cover page of the November 2012 issue of the journal).
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/anie.201202592
13. H. R. Vutukuri, J. Stiefelhagen, T. Vissers, A. Imhof, and A. van Blaaderen; Bonding assembled colloids without loss of colloidal stability, Advanced Materials 24, 412 (2012). https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/adma.201104010
Research profiles
Courses academic year 2024/2025
Courses in the current academic year are added at the moment they are finalised in the Osiris system. Therefore it is possible that the list is not yet complete for the whole academic year.
Courses academic year 2023/2024
If you are a Bachelor's or Master's student and looking for a potential internship or thesis, we have several projects. We welcome students from a wide range of disciplines, including (but not limited to) soft matter physics, physical chemistry, chemical, mechanical, materials engineering, and biophysics. Are you interested in working with us? Please email me to discuss the opportunities.
6. Thrilled to share that our work on binary colloidal glasses has just been accepted in PRL (Physical Review Letters!!)
https://journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/57076YafH431159941841bb138ddabf7b25aea222
5. Excited to share that our work featured on the Cover-page of ACS Nano!!!
https://pubs.acs.org/toc/ancac3/18/15
4. Mar 2024: Thrilled to shae that our work on Role of Shape in Particle-Lipid Membrane Interactions: From Surfing to Full Engulfment is just published in
ACS Nano https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.3c11106?ref=pdf
3. December 2023:
Thrilled to share that we have just received the NWO Open Competition Domain Science – XS grant.
2. Excited to share that our work on A colloidal viewpoint on the finite sphere packing problem: the sausage catastrophe, is published in Nature Communications, 2023.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-43722-0
Highlighted our work in Applied physics and mathematics focus theme@Nature Communications
https://www.nature.com/collections/hjhbgijcei
Highlighted our work in Nature ReviewsPhsyics by Editor's pick
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42254-024-00687-3
Highlighted in New Scientist magazine
1. March 2023:
Thrilled to share that we have just received the NWO Open Competition Domain Science – M1 grant!
Address
University of Twente
Horst Complex (building no. 20), room ZH155
De Horst 2
7522 LW Enschede
Netherlands
University of Twente
Horst Complex ZH155
P.O. Box 217
7500 AE Enschede
Netherlands
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