Data-driven Framework for the Prediction of PEGDA Hydrogel Mechanics

2/12/2026

Poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogels are biocompatible and photo-cross-linkable, with accessible values of elastic modulus ranging from kPa to MPa, leading to their wide use in biomedical and soft material applications. However, PEGDA gels possess complex microstructures, limiting the use of standard polymer theories to describe them. As a result, we lack a foundational understanding of how to relate their composition, processing, and mechanical properties.

Rigidity Governs Entrainment of Bacteria Cells in Biopolymer Scaffolds

2/12/2026 | R.Anderson (U. San Diego), J. Ross (Syracuse), M. Rust (U. Chicago), M. Valentine (UCSB), M. Das (Rochester)

Active and Passive Crosslinking of Cytoskeleton Scaffolds Tune the Effects of Cell Inclusions on Composite Structures

2/12/2026 | R. Anderson (U. San Diego), J. Ross (Syracuse), M. Rust (U. Chicago), M. Valentine (UCSB), M. Das (Rochester)

Incorporating cells within active biomaterial scaffolds is a promising strategy to develop materials that can autonomously sense and respond. Using dynamic biocompatible scaffolds that can self-alter their properties would offer even greater avenues for actuation and control, but our understanding of the fundamental design principles of such complex materials remains limited.

Emergence and Evolution of a Particulate Network during Gelation and Coarsening of Attractive Colloids

2/2/2026 | Safa Jamali (Northeastern University)

The process of gelation in attractive colloids involves formation of an interconnected and percolated network, followed by its coarsening and maturation. In this study, the formation and evolution of this particulate network was analyzed, and deterministic quantitative measures were introduced to evaluate the key transition points.

Topological Data Analysis for Particulate Gels

2/2/2026 | Emanuela Del Gado (Georgetown University)

Soft gels, formed via the self-assembly of particulate materials, exhibit intricate multiscale structures that provide them with flexibility and resilience when subjected to external stresses. This work combines particle simulations and topological data analysis (TDA) to characterize the complex multiscale structure of soft gels. Here, TDA analysis focuses on the use of the Euler characteristic, which is an interpretable and computationally scalable topological descriptor that is combined with filtration operations to obtain information on the geometric (local) and topological (global) structure of soft gels.

The Hidden Hierarchical Nature of Soft Particulate Gels

2/2/2026 | Emanuela Del Gado (Georgetown University)

Soft particulate gels include materials we can eat, squeeze or 3D print, from foods to bio-inks to cement hydrates. They are composed of a small amount of particulate matter dispersed in a continuous fluid phase. The solid components assemble to form a porous matrix, providing rigidity and control of the mechanical response, despite being the minority constituent.

Data-driven Recovery of Complex Fluid’s Parameters from Constructive Models

2/2/2026 | Safa Jamali (Northeastern University)

Rheology-informed neural networks (RhINNs) have recently been popularized as data-driven platforms for solving rheologically relevant differential equations. While RhINNs can be employed to solve different constitutive equations of interest in a forward or inverse manner, their ability to do so strictly depends on the type of data and the choice of models embedded within their structure.

Magnetic Decoupling as a Proofreading Strategy for High-yield Time-efficient Microscale Self-Assembly

1/27/2026 | I. Cohen and P. McEuen (Cornell U.) M. Brenner (Harvard U.)

Synthetic self-assembly, the process by which components spontaneously organize into complex structures, often fails due to persistent defective intermediates. Inspired by biological error-correction mechanisms, magnetic assemblies were engineered to become nonresponsive to magnetic fields when correctly formed.

The Smallest Walking Robot

1/27/2026 | I. Cohen and P. McEuen (Cornell U.)

Microscopic robots with features comparable with the wavelength of light offer new ways of probing the microscopic world and controlling light at the microscale. Here, a new class of magnetically controlled microscopic robots (microbots) are introduced that operate at the visible-light diffraction limit, which were termed diffractive robots.

Single-layer Clathrane: Potential Superconducting 2D Hydrogenated Metal Borocarbide

1/23/2026 | Eva Zurek (SUNY-Buffalo)

A new family of two-dimensional (2D) metal borocarbide clathrane superconductors derived from three-dimensional (3D) MM′B6C6 clathrates is proposed. First-principles calculations reveal that hydrogen passivation and surface metal decoration stabilize the M2M′B8C8H8 monolayers. These 2D systems exhibit tunable superconductivity governed by hole concentration, structural anisotropy, and electron–phonon coupling.