Manipulation and Deposition of Complex, Functional Block Copolymer Nanostructures Using Optical Tweezers.

Block copolymer self-assembly has enabled the creation of a range of solution-phase nanostructures with applications from optoelectronics and biomedicine to catalysis. However, to incorporate such materials into devices a method that facilitates their precise manipulation and deposition is desirable. Herein we describe how optical tweezers can be used to trap, manipulate, and pattern individual cylindrical micelles and larger hybrid micellar materials.

Light-patterning of synthetic tissues with single droplet resolution.

Synthetic tissues can be generated by forming networks of aqueous droplets in lipid-containing oil. Each droplet contains a cell-free expression system and is connected to its neighbor through a lipid bilayer. In the present work, we have demonstrated precise external control of such networks by activating protein expression within single droplets, by using light-activated DNA to encode either a fluorescent or a pore-forming protein.

Light-Patterned Current Generation in a Droplet Bilayer Array.

We have created a 4 × 4 droplet bilayer array comprising light-activatable aqueous droplet bio-pixels. Aqueous droplets containing bacteriorhodopsin (bR), a light-driven proton pump, were arranged on a common hydrogel surface in lipid-containing oil. A separate lipid bilayer formed at the interface between each droplet and the hydrogel; each bilayer then incorporated bR.

Optimal hydrodynamic synchronization of colloidal rotors.

Synchronization of driven oscillators is a key aspect of flow generation in artificial and biological filaments such as cilia. Previous theoretical and numerical studies have considered the "rotor" model of a cilium in which the filament is coarse grained into a colloidal sphere driven with a given force law along a predefined trajectory to represent the oscillating motion of the cilium. These studies pointed to the importance of two factors in the emergence of synchronization: the modulation of the driving force around the orbit and the deformability of the trajectory.