ISMSM News

March 20th, 2026

The Institute for Soft Matter and Metrology (ISM) is pleased to welcome the 2025 ISM–NIST Fellows, Narayan Das and Ruth Crothers, whose research spans polymer mechanics, colloidal materials, and advanced measurement techniques. …

March 18th, 2026

Professor Dan Blair, a member of Georgetown’s Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology (ISM), is part of a newly funded $9 million Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) led by Virginia Tech and supported by the Office of Naval Research. …

March 5th, 2026

ISM recently hosted two Soft Matter Seminars that showcased the breadth of soft matter research, from the mechanics of lung interfaces to the physical principles underlying gene regulation. …

February 11th, 2026

ISM is pleased to welcome Dr. Priyanka Joshi as a new Institute member. Dr. Joshi is a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology at Georgetown University Medical Center, where she directs the Laboratory of Biomolecular Homeostasis and Resilience.…

December 10th, 2025

A newly published study led by ISM member Prof. Jennifer Swift and collaborators, “Uric Acid Monohydrate Nanocrystals: An Adaptable Platform for Nitrogen and Salt Management in Reptiles,” explores the surprising nanostructure of uric acid waste produced by ball pythons.…

October 27th, 2025

Professor Dan Blair, Director of Graduate Studies, has been named Fellow of the American Physical Society, for the Division of Soft Matter Physics. Read more in the College story here.…

October 8th, 2025

The Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology (ISMSM) at Georgetown University is home to two state-of-the-art shared facilities designed to advance discovery in soft matter research. By opening these labs to academic collaborators, industry partners, and Georgetown scientists, ISMSM provides the tools, expertise, and collaborative environment needed to tackle challenges in materials science, physics, chemistry, and beyond.…

October 3rd, 2025

A new study led by Micaila Curtis in collaboration with Dr. Xinran Zhang and the Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology (ISMSM) amongst others, titled “Ascorbic Acid Improves the Mechanical Properties of Collagen-Based Matrix” and published in Advanced Healthcare Materials, reveals how Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) enhances the structure and mechanical integrity of collagen matrices—even in the absence of cells.…

September 26th, 2025

The Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology (ISM) hosted ISM Day 2025 last week on Georgetown University’s Main Campus, bringing together scientists from across disciplines to share their work and spark new collaborations.…

September 9th, 2025

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.…

September 8th, 2025

(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…

August 22nd, 2025

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…

July 23rd, 2025

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.…

July 23rd, 2025

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. …

June 24th, 2025

Meet the two fellowship recipients and their research.…

June 20th, 2025

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. …

May 29th, 2025

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.…

May 15th, 2025

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.…

May 7th, 2025

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.…

April 3rd, 2025

A new study led by Dr. Jeffrey Toretsky and his team at Georgetown University investigates the role of the nuclear speckle protein SRRM2 in Ewing Sarcoma (ES), offering fresh insights into how oncogenic condensates influence gene regulation. The research, conducted in collaboration with Julie Forman-Kay’s lab at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, uses advanced imaging techniques to track SRRM2 dynamics in live and fixed ES cells.…

February 11th, 2025

A new study led by Dr. Rodrigo Maillard at Georgetown University, “Identifying Allosteric Hotspots in Mycobacterium tuberculosis cAMP Receptor Protein through Structural Homology,” published in Biochemistry sheds light on how bacteria regulate their genes, challenging long-held assumptions about protein behavior. Published in Biochemistry, the research compares how two bacterial species—Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium tuberculosis—use a signaling molecule called cyclic AMP (cAMP) to control important cellular functions.…

January 29th, 2025

Researchers within the Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology (ISMSM) at Georgetown University, in collaboration with TU Eindhoven, have developed groundbreaking synthetic gel materials that mimic the dynamic properties of biological extracellular matrices. …

December 16th, 2024

Recent developments from Prof. Van Keuren and his students. An interdisciplinary team of researchers, led by Georgetown faculty members Biology Professor Heidi Elmendorf and Physics Professor Jeff Urbach used a combination of high-resolution imaging, computational modeling, theoretical analysis, innovative experimentation, to conclusively demonstrate that a version of the flow-based model accurately captures the biophysics of Giardia attachment.…

November 18th, 2024

Recent developments from Prof. Van Keuren and his students. …

October 23rd, 2024

A collaboration between the Urbach and Blair groups has been published. …

October 3rd, 2024

The Del Gado group proposes a new analysis method for characterizing soft gels. …

August 6th, 2024

Prof. Braselmann welcomed a collaborator and students from Fairfield University.…

June 28th, 2024

Meet the three fellowship recipients and their research.…

March 22nd, 2024

Prof. Maillard was invited to discuss his research at an international conference. …

February 20th, 2024

The Van Keuren lab investigated liquid-core polymer nanocapsules. …

February 14th, 2024

An interview with Prof. Olmsted concerning his new position representing soft matter for the APS. …

November 27th, 2023

Prof. Del Gado and ISM researchers investigated the mechanism of reinforcing hydrogels with nanofillers. …

November 13th, 2023

Prof. Weiss is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award and the Hillebrand Prize.…

September 26th, 2023

Researchers from ISM and affiliates gathered to discuss current research and future opportunities. …

August 4th, 2023

Meet the two fellowship recipients and their research.…

July 20th, 2023

A recent publication from ISM members investigating the dependence of proton transfer in ionomers on the dielectric constant of the solvent. …

June 19th, 2023

A collaboration including an ISMSM researcher published an editorial highlighting the experience of Black scientists. …

May 22nd, 2023

A group of Georgetown faculty secured up to $21 million in funding from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to provide laboratory experience and financial support to…

May 3rd, 2023

Recent research from Prof. Urbach on diffusion behavior in colloidal bananas. …

March 3rd, 2023

New research from the Del Gado group on how 3D printing can reduce the carbon footprint of the construction process. …

February 8th, 2023

Research from Prof. Metallo investigating small molecule binding sites in IDPs. …

January 24th, 2023

Profs. Blair, Del Gado, and Urbach won a 3 year grant of $691,996 from the National Science Foundation for a combined experimental and computational investigation of the role of microscopic rotations, fluctuations, and friction in an important class of particle gels. …

December 9th, 2022

Prof. Van Keuren has been involved in two recent publications.…

October 18th, 2022

Sophie Taylor, and undergraduate researcher in an ISM lab, won an award for her poster at PhysCon. …

September 26th, 2022

Researchers from ISM and soft matter community gathered to discuss current research and new opportunities.…

September 20th, 2022

Prof. Kertesz and collaborators published research on the formation of diradicaloids in polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. …

August 29th, 2022

Meet the two fellowship recipients, Davina Adderley and Victor Francis. …

August 12th, 2022

Prof. Del Gado and collaborators have recently published research on the microscopic dynamics underlying stress relaxation. …

August 10th, 2022

Recent research from the groups of Profs Blair and Urbach reveals insight on how oobleck works.…

June 22nd, 2022

Prof. Toretsky recently published a paper concerning mRNA splicing in Ewing sarcoma. …

June 7th, 2022

A paper co-authored by Georgetown College of Arts and Sciences professor Peter Olmsted has been published in the American Physical Society journal Physical Review X. …

May 2nd, 2022

ISMSM faculty member Prof. Peter Olmsted recently published the paper “Probing the nonequilibrium dynamics of stress, orientation, and entanglements in polymer melts with orthogonal interrupted shear simulations”. …

April 4th, 2022

Several ISMSM faculty and student researchers gave presentations at the American Physical Society March Meeting…

March 7th, 2022

Updates on recent research and upcoming publications from Professor Kertesz of the ISMSM and collaborators concerning novel conjugated polymers and their properties.…

February 9th, 2022

Professor Paranjape, with graduate student O’Brien, recently published a paper introducing a model for the dynamic surface tension of surfactant-enhanced polydimethylsiloxane. …

December 8th, 2021

A summary of the recent activity of the Weiss group, including a recent publication and presentations given. …

September 30th, 2021

The project “Collaborative Research: Aggregation mechanisms in carbon nanomaterials based on pi-conjugated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons” joint between Miklos Kertesz (Department of Chemistry and ISMSM at Georgetown University) and Prof. Hans Lischka at Texas Tech University (Lubbock, TX) received a new NSF grant…

August 19th, 2021

Professor Peter Olmsted was recently awarded an National Science Foundation grant on the topic of  “Integrated Material Design and Processing–Application to Recycled Plastics”. The project…

August 9th, 2021

Department of Physics and post-doctoral researcher Abhay Goyal create a novel model for studying the cohesive strength of cement in the hopes of creating greener infrastructure. …

May 7th, 2021

Professor Peter Olmsted has been elected a Fellow of the Society of Rheology. Fellows are selected based on distinguished scientific achievement, significant technological accomplishment, and/or outstanding scholarship in the field of Rheology. Service to the Society is also an important component to Fellowship status.…

February 23rd, 2021

As part of the Provost’s Podcast: Faculty in Research, Prof. Jeff Urbach discussed his love of physics and his career in science with Provost Robert Groves. Listen to their…

October 27th, 2020

In an article titled “Shear-Induced Gelation of Self-Yielding Active Networks”, recently published in Physical Review Letters, postdoctoral researchers David Gagnon and Claudia Dessi, Professor Daniel Blair, and their collaborators studied the rheology of microtubule-based active materials. …

December 13th, 2019

How do molecules stick together to form electronic conducting pathways? One mechanism for generating parallel pi-stacking geometry with maximum orbital overlap is obtained in a form of multicenter…

December 10th, 2019

Graduate students Scott Melis and Eleni Hughes recently presented posters at the 2019 Materials Research Society conference in Boston, MA.…

November 19th, 2019

Prof. Daniel Blair gave a McGroddy Frontiers in Science Seminar at St. Joseph’s University on “From self-yielding to solidification: How extensile active gels tune their response to…

November 19th, 2019

Prof. Ed Van Keuren has recently received two new grants from the National Institutes of Health. One is for the development of nanoparticles of a novel copolymer to treat acute kidney injury.…

August 7th, 2018

Prof. Hahm co-wrote an ACS Nano VI editorial, ‘Women in Nanotechnology: Toward Better Materials through Better Understanding of Low-Dimensional Systems’ with Prof. Ana de…

June 1st, 2018

Prof. Weiss was an invited plenary lecture at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Chemical Society, Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná, Brazil. During the meeting, Prof. Weiss was presented with…

June 1st, 2018

Prof. Richard Weiss has been invited to present at the 41st. SBQ Annual Meeting, which will be held from May 21 to 24, in Foz do Iguaçu. Prof. Weiss will also receive a Journal…

June 1st, 2018

During his sabbatical, Prof. Van Keuren visited Japan during March and April, working most of that time in the group of Prof. Hidetoshi Oikawa in the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for…

May 29th, 2018

Professor Emanuela Del Gado co-organizes a successful workshop on Dense Suspensions at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Santa Barbara. The workshop ran from…

March 9th, 2018

Vikram Rathee has won the Postdoctoral Speaker Award from the APS Topical Group on Statistical and Nonlinear Physics at this year’s March Meeting for his talk “Insight into Shear Thickening…

December 13th, 2017

December 11, 2017 — A paper co-authored by Georgetown College physics professor Peter Olmsted has been published in the journal Nature Physics. The paper, “Frustration and thermalization…

August 30th, 2017

A two-day workshop on a diverse range of soft matter subjects was held on 25-26 August 2017 under the sponsorship of Georgetown’s India Initiative and the I(SM)2.  It was attended by six…

June 1st, 2017

The Active Materials Project summer school will run from Sunday, June 11th through Thursday, June 15th, 2017 on the Campus of Georgetown University. The event will bring together graduate…

December 26th, 2016

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October 28th, 2016

Professor  Jong-In Hahm, Associate Professor of Physics and member of the Institute, has been awarded the Distinguished Research Award for the Main Campus. Professor Hahm will receive…

September 1st, 2016

Research efforts led by Professor Jong-in Hahm, recently published in ACS Nano, 2016, 10 (8), pp 7705–7720, DOI: provide new insight into controlling the adsorption configuration, backbone…

August 1st, 2016

Nagarjuna Gavvalapalli has joined us from the University of Illinois@Urbana Champaign. He is in the Chemistry Department and provides expertise in synthetic macromolecular chemistry. To push…

June 18th, 2016

A Workshop on Dense Colloidal Suspensions was held Thursday/Friday 16-17 June 2016). You can read about it. You can view the program for the…

April 22nd, 2016

By revealing missing details behind the odd behavior of a science-fair favorite—a soupy mixture known as “oobleck” that switches back and forth between liquid and solid— scientists from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Georgetown University could help to end a long-running scientific debate and improve processes ranging from pouring concrete to making better body armor.…

April 20th, 2016

The 4th USA Science & Engineering Festival was held April 16-17, 2016 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. Well over 700 people visited the Georgetown University had a booth covering Biology, Physics and Chemistry, including making ice cream using liquid nitrogen!…

March 7th, 2016

On 1 February 2016 Georgetown University (Departments of Chemistry and Physics) was awarded a Professional Research Experience Program (GU PREP-MML), from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The program is led by Peter Olmsted in the Department of Physics, and will begin in summer 2016.…

February 22nd, 2016

Research by Prof. Del Gado, which appeared this month on PNAS early edition, has provided new understanding of cement hydrates' mesoscale texture, a crucial step to connect the fundamental scales to the macroscale of engineering properties in cement and concrete.…

February 6th, 2016

A workshop on “Rheology of dense particulate suspensions” will be held at Georgetown University, 16-17 June 2016.…

November 18th, 2015

The next installment of MASM will take place at new location for the workshop. The National Institutes of Health will host the next MASM on Friday January 29, 2016. http://masm.physics.georgetown.edu…