Mesoscopic Physics of Life (MPoL)
Research group of Prof. Dr. Christoph Weber
www.uni-augsburg.de/de/fakultaet/mntf/physik/groups/theo2/
We develop theories using non-equlibrium statistical physics for intracellular organization, the molecular origin of life and bottom-up de novo life.
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- We are very proud of Dr. Ivar Haugerud for successfully defending his PhD thesis at the University of Augsburg in December 2025. We wish him all the best in his post-doc position back in Oslo with Prof. Andreas Carlson at the University of Oslo. @uio.no 🥂🍾🎉
- Reposted by Mesoscopic Physics of Life (MPoL)Active droplets are fundamental in cell biology and origin of life. With Jonathan Bauermann, @boekhovenlab.bsky.social, Frank Jülicher, and @m-pol.bsky.social, we show that a critical transition influences their size, morphology, ripening and division propensity journals.aps.org/prx/abstract...
- Can prebiotic chemistry harvest energy from cyclic environments? We explore how oscillating reservoirs can drive chemical systems to extract power. Revealing resonance regimes for optimal harvest. 🔗 arxiv.org/abs/2510.10266 @pranayjaiswal.bsky.social, @ivarhaugerud.bsky.social and Hidde D. Vuijk.
- The CECAM workshop “Multiscale modeling of chemically active mixtures” was a fruitful and stimulating meeting — combining deep discussions, new collaborations, and inspiring science. Thanks to beautiful Lausanne for providing the perfect backdrop! 🇨🇭🏔️ @cecamevents.bsky.social
- New pre-print with Jacqueline Janssen and Frank Jülicher! We extend the Lifshitz-Slyozov-Wagner (LSW) theory by matter supply, and find a novel universal law governing coarsening kinetics, valid for any constant matter supply in the interface-resistance-limited regime. 📄: arxiv.org/abs/2510.21552
- 'Liquid shells: A peculiar state': Will be visiting the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organisation for a Colloquium, discussing the formation of liquid shells using non-equilibrium thermodynamics. Feel free to drop by or join online. 💧🐚 www.ds.mpg.de/events/41316...
- Very much looking forward to the second edition of the ICTP-SAIFR thematic series of schools on biological physics across scales, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. More information and applications: www.ictp-saifr.org/sbpas2026/
- Great days at Frontiers in Nanoscience with @cens-lmu.bsky.social & @crc392molevo.bsky.social! Met new people, reconnected with old collaborators, and enjoyed inspiring talks, posters, and discussions. Hard to beat doing science with a view of Venice from the international university at San Servolo!
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- Reposted by Mesoscopic Physics of Life (MPoL)Another pre-print from our group see's the light of day! 🎉 This time we how the coarsening of droplets is affected by advection and reactions: arxiv.org/abs/2510.00827 @stefankoestler2025.bsky.social describes our surprising findings in the thread below ⤵️
- New preprint 🥳 In our new paper, we show that “Advection selects pattern in multi-stable emulsions of active droplets” — which provides a path toward controlling regular arrangements of droplets. 🧵 📄 arxiv.org/abs/2510.00827
- Thanks to the @spp2191.bsky.social and @gbmev.bsky.social for the amazing organisation of the "GBM Compact: Focus on Condensate Biology" Conference and the SPP2191 Satellite Meeting. 🧬💧
- Great to see the role of phase separation in the culinary world being recognised. 🧀🍝 A huge congratulations to @gbart.bsky.social and collaborators!
- Looking back on the "Emergence and Self-organisation in Biological Systems" conference last month @esbs2025.bsky.social, celebrating the contributions of Prof. Erwin Frey @physicsoflifelmu.bsky.social to the field (and his birthday 🎂). Was a great conference, catching up with lots of familiar faces.
- Was super fun to host the Michaels Group from ETH for a collaborative visit last week. 🤝 As a coincidental bonus, we celebrated the Autumn Augsburg Plärrer Folkfestival together with lots of laughs, drinks and great discussions. 🍻
- A sneak peak into our yearly summer group retreat with the Comp. Bio Group of Prof. Nadine Schwierz and the Stat. Physics of Life Group of Prof. Abhinav Sharma in Sion, Switzerland. Was a great chance to spend time in nature, and to share and discuss exciting new collaborations. ☀️⛰️🫕
- Excited to share our new JACS paper "Controlling Multiphase Coacervate Wetting and Self‑Organization by Interfacial Proteins" Together with our fantastic collaborators @spruijtlab.bsky.social l we show how surface-active proteins tune condensate architecture and organization.
- Reposted by Mesoscopic Physics of Life (MPoL)David @zwickergroup.bsky.social gives the first tutorial of the biomol25 program @kitp-ucsb.bsky.social, reminding us that phase equilibria and chemical equilibria are coupled by thermodynamics
- Reposted by Mesoscopic Physics of Life (MPoL)Shura Grosberg (NYU) gives a fantastic blackboard talk @kitp-ucsb.bsky.social on liquid-liquid phase separation in and out of equilibrium 👨🏫
- Reposted by Mesoscopic Physics of Life (MPoL)How can a cell control the size of its organelles? Excited to share a mechanism to control droplet size we recently found. a 🧵 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
- "Chemically Active Wetting" is now published! 📖 We explore what happens when wetting meets out of equilibrium binding: Active binding shapes droplets like charges shape electrostatic fields - giving rise to pancake- or mushroom-shaped droplets. 🧪💧 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
- @pranayjaiswal.bsky.social just got back from presenting a poster at the @physicsoflifeuk.bsky.social conference in Harrogate, with some great conversations and feedback (and even great weather this time round ☀️). A big thank you to the organisers.
- Was a super fun and competitive day in the Physics Faculty at the University of Augsburg, with the yearly Futsal Institute Cup taking place again. Thanks to everyone who played, contributed and cheerlead. 🎉 👏 Looking forward to next years event! ⚽
- Reposted by Mesoscopic Physics of Life (MPoL)This summer in beautiful Santa Barbara we will run a 3-day conference on “Biological Physics of Biomolecular Condensates: Bridging Theory and Experiment” June 16 to 18th. Register now: www.kitp.ucsb.edu/activities/b...
- Reposted by Mesoscopic Physics of Life (MPoL)Registration has started for the conference "Emerging Trends in the Physics of the Cell" in memoriam of Erich Sackmann at TU Munich from October 15-18 2025 www.cpa.tum.de/cpa/conferen...
- Was a great week at the #DPG Spring Meeting in #Regensburg this year! With a lots of great talks and posters from the community. @advait-thatte.bsky.social, Susanne Liese and Christoph spoke about some of the research done in our group. Looking forward to next year's meeting! 🧪🔬
- Reposted by Mesoscopic Physics of Life (MPoL)We are organizing a conference for young researchers at the intersection between physics & biology: www.embl.org/about/info/c... @embl.org @events.embl.org @intcha.bsky.social Please consider applying/registering -- the deadline is already in one week!
- Reposted by Mesoscopic Physics of Life (MPoL)1/6 🧪 Preprint-Alert! We looked at how molecules move across phase boundaries, e.g., in liquid droplets, taking into account that chemical potentials inside and outside the boundary can be different! This unites recent work with stuff from the 60s and has cool consequences 👇 shorturl.at/j0U6i
- Active droplets far from equilibrium can become excitable, enabling excited trajectories upon perturbations and self-sustained cycles of formation and dissolution 🌀 @hiddevuijk.bsky.social @ivarhaugerud.bsky.social Great collab with @boekhovenlab.bsky.social preprint 🔬: arxiv.org/abs/2503.11604
- Was a great poster session at DPG during the BP 14 session in Regensburg. Lots of great projects on bacterial biophysics, computational biophysics, membranes and vesicles, synthetic life-like systems and origin of life, systems and networks biophysics! #DPG
- Reposted by Mesoscopic Physics of Life (MPoL)Check out the video highlight of our recent work! youtube.com/shorts/MCJEb...
- Reposted by Mesoscopic Physics of Life (MPoL)It’s out!😃 2 years ago, I organized a workshop with @WebersGroup and @KGoepfrich on how to build Life. We discussed with leading scientists by day and wrote up our discussions in the eves. The "Roadmap Towards Synthetic Life" is now out in Chem! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
