Archive: News Story

• Leah Chen: From Physics to Public Health, Bridging Science and Global Health at Georgetown

  When Leah Chen (C’25) first arrived at Georgetown, she wasted no time jumping into research. “First or second week of freshman year, I was emailing the head of the physics department about research opportunities, and then immediately got involved in the Van Keuren lab,” she recalled.

  Categories: ISM Stories, News Story

• Toretsky Named Inaugural Hyundai Hope on Wheels Endowed Chair in Pediatric Oncology

  (September 7, 2025) — In honor of his dedication to pediatric cancer research, Jeffrey A. Toretsky, MD, professor of oncology at Georgetown University School of Medicine, was formally named the inaug

  Category: News Story

• Celebrating Excellence: 2025 ISM Ambassador Award Recipients

  The Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology (ISMSM) at Georgetown University is proud to recognize four outstanding members of our community: Leah Chen, Isabel Early, Eleni Hughes, and Charles Ochonma

  Category: News Story

• ISM Director Emanuela Del Gado Featured as Plenary Speaker at International Conference on Statistical Physics

  This July, the global statistical physics community gathered in Florence, Italy, for the 29th edition of the International Conference on Statistical Physics (StatPhys29) a flagship event of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP), held every three years. The 2025 meeting brought together over 1,500 researchers from across disciplines to explore the fundamental principles shaping complex systems, from quantum fluids to biological networks.

  Category: News Story

• Heman Bekele Brings Vision for Accessible Cancer Treatment to ISM Summer Research

  This summer, Heman Bekele, named TIME’s 2024 Kid of the Year for his development of a low-cost, cancer-fighting soap joined the Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology (ISMSM) at Georgetown University to expand his scientific knowledge and deepen his understanding of drug delivery mechanisms.

  Category: News Story

• 2025 – 2026 Soft Matter Graduate Fellowship Recipients

  Meet the two fellowship recipients and their research.

  Category: News Story

• MASM 25: Dynamic Day of Discovery in Soft Matter

  On Friday, May 30, 2025, the 25th Mid-Atlantic Soft Matter Workshop (MASM) convened at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, bringing together scientists from across academia, industry, and national laboratories.

  Category: News Story

• 9th Chesapeake Bay Area Single Molecule Biology Meeting at Georgetown University

  On May 3rd, 2025, Georgetown University hosted the 9th Chesapeake Bay Area Single Molecule Biology Meeting (CBASMB)—a dynamic day of science at the intersection of physics, chemistry, biology, and computation. Now in its ninth year, the CBASMB meeting continues to serve as a vital regional forum for researchers unraveling the complexities of life at the single-molecule level.

  Category: News Story

• Georgetown Scientists Explore Double Network Gels That Can Be Programmed Like Smart Materials

  A new study led by Georgetown University’s Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology (ISMSM) researchers, Prof. Emanuela Del Gado, Dr. Mauro L. Mugnai and Rose Tchuenkam Batoum, titled “Inter-Species Interactions in Dual, Fibrous Gel Enable Control of Gel Structure and Rheology,” published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), reveals a powerful way to fine-tune the structure and stiffness of soft gels. These are materials found in everything from biomedical devices to synthetic tissues.

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• Molecular Nanohoops Reveal Unexpected Topological Transition

  A new study led by Dr. Miklos Kertesz and his team at Georgetown University, “Quinonoid radial π-conjugation” published in Chemical Science, uncovers a remarkable electronic transformation in a novel class of molecular nanohoops—compact, ring-shaped systems composed of alternating aromatic and quinonoid units. The research investigates how changing the ratio of these two components affects the nanohoops’ electronic structure, leading to surprising and potentially useful behavior.

  Category: News Story