Molecular assembly offers a promising strategy to construct active systems by using
biomolecules as building blocks. Such assembled systems simulate or regulate important …

Active matters, which consume energy to exert mechanical forces, include molecular motors,
synthetic nanomachines, actively propelled bacteria, and viruses. A series of unique …

Much like passive materials, active systems can be affected by the presence of imperfections
in their microscopic order, called defects, that influence macroscopic properties. This …

Active matter systems feature the ability to form collective patterns as observed in a plethora
of living systems, from schools of fish to swimming bacteria. While many of these systems …

Orientational order is a common feature of many biological and synthetic materials.
Topological defects are discontinuities in this order that are often coupled to geometric …

In cells, multiple molecular motors work together as teams to carry cargoes such as vesicles
and organelles over long distances to their destinations by step** along a network of …

The internal organization of cells is largely determined by the architecture and orientation of
the microtubule network. Microtubules serve as polar tracks for the selective transport of …

We investigate the lane formation in nonequilibrium systems of colloidal particles moving in
parallel that are driven by the force of gravity. For this setup, an experimental implementation …

Motility assays use surface-immobilized molecular motors to propel cytoskeletal filaments.
They have been widely used to characterize motor properties and their impact on …

The transition from individual to collective motion plays a significant role in many biological
processes. While the implications of different types of particle-particle interactions for the …