|News|
2024
April 15-18, 2024: Dr. Silke Van den Wyngaert, Academy Research Fellow in Physiology and Genetics at the University of Turku, Finland was hosted by the Sengupta Lab for a short research stay to discuss life forms and motility of aquatic fungi. It was exciting to learn about these tiny, yet impactful microorganisms. We look forward to the follow up discussions!
March 24-31, 2024: The Sengupta Lab hosts Dr. Ranabir Dey, Asst. Prof. and Head of the Soft Matter and Microswimmers Group, Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad. Great to have you here, Ranabir!
March 26, 2024: Anupam delivers the Inaugural Lecture at the University of Luxembourg.
March 17-22, 2024: Sengupta Lab presents their research during the German Physical Society (DPG) Spring Meeting in Berlin, Germany. 3 oral presentations from the Lab were duly complemented by valuable discussions with members of the scientific community working on biophysical systems and processes. Was great to be back at the DPG again!
March 14, 2024: A panel of external experts visits the University of Luxembourg to review the Bachelor of Physics (BPHY) programme which Anupam directs. The BPHY management as well as the Quality Office of the Faculty and the UL look forward to engaging discussions on actionable points with different stake holders.
February 22-23, 2024: As a member of the European Crucible Alumni Forum, Anupam meets fellow Cruciblists from Scotland and Europe. The 2-day event was organized and hosted by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which included engaging discussions on research policies for the future with members of the Scottish Government at the Scottish Parliament.
February 19-21, 2024: The Lyell Center and the Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh hosts Anupam for discussions on the role of microorganisms in sustainable development and ecological processes. Anupam delivered a lecture on the adaptive abilities of microorganisms in marine environments, in the context of climate change. A heartfelt thanks to the organizers, particularly to Prof. Kamaljit Singh for setting off this exciting collaboration.
2023
December 13, 2023: Research article, Motile bacteria leverage bioconvection for eco-physiological benefits in a natural aquatic environment, appears in Frontiers in Microbiology. The link to the article here. Great to be part of this exciting collaboration (now nearly 10 years!), combining field and laboratory experiments to uncover the biological role(s) of collective microbial motion in natural ecosystems. A great way to wrap up the year!
November 20, 2023: Research article, Collective mechano-response dynamically tunes cell-size distributions in growing bacterial colonies, appears in Communications Physics. The link to the article here. A great collaborative outcome after year-long interactions with the group of Hartmut Löwen (Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf, Germany); shout out to René Wittmann and Fabian Schwarzendahl for the long and detailed discussions!
October 16, 2023: Congratulations Arka on defending the PhD Thesis! Sengupta Lab wishes you the very best for the next adventure(s) lined up.
October 10-13, 2023: Sengupta Lab presents their results at the Cell Physics 2023 conference with two posters and an oral presentation, Kudos!
September 12-15, 2023: Sengupta Lab is part of an exciting EMBO Workshop on Developmental metabolism: flows of energy, matter, and information, with an oral presentation and a poster. Great meeting!
August 30, 2023: Congratulations Francesco on defending the PhD Thesis with highest grade! Très bien Dr. Di Nezio!
July 11-14, 2023: Members of Sengupta Lab join the annual field trip and research workshop at the Lago di Cadagno, in canton Tessin, Switzerland. The mystery of bacterial bioconvection continues!
June 29-30, 2023: Stephan - our very best wishes on embarking upon the new phase of your life beyond (or are we mistaken :) ?) science! Was wonderful to be part of the symposium Complex Fluids and Beyond, and get to see the Herminghaus-Family back in Göttingen! Greetings from all of us at the Physics of Living Matter Group in Luxembourg!
June 19-29, 2023: Anupam speaks at the International Workshop on Active Matter at Surfaces and in Complex Environments (MPI-PKS, Dresden, Germany) and at the Gordon Research Conference on Liquid Crystals 2023, themed Learning from Nature to Transform Technology through Liquid Crystal Science. The events' highlights were the young researchers who are driving the future of physics of active and liquid crystal materials - a wonderful privilege to interact with the emerging scientists and get up to date with the brilliant ideas (and publications!) which are ready to fly!
June 8, 2023: Dr. Chenyu Jin, postdoctoral fellow in the Sengupta Lab, is awarded the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship (MSCA-PF) of the European Commission. CONGRATULATIONS Chenyu on this achievement!
June 5, 2023: Vamsee's paper, Spatio-temporal programming of lyotropic phase transition in nanoporous microfluidic confinements, appears in the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. The link to the article here. Congratulations Vamsee on this exciting discovery!
May 26, 2023: Research article, Controlled motility in the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium regulates aggregate architecture, appears this week in the journal Science. The link to the article here. Congratulations to everyone involved in this work, and a big thanks specially to Ulrike Pfreundt, Martin Ackermann and Roman Stocker for this lasting collaboration dating back to 2016.
May 16, 2023: EU COST proposal, European Curvature and Biology Network, is awarded to a cross-disciplinary team of scientists working on role of curvature in biological systems. Sengupta Lab thanks the entire team headed by John Dunlop (U. Paris Lodron of Salzburg, Austria) and Cecile Bidan (MPI for Colloids and Interfaces, Germany); and looks forward to an exciting phase of ideation and exchanges with the EuroCurvoBioNet collaborators.
May 15, 2023: Physics of Living Matter turns 5! It's been an exciting journey since we took the baby steps in an empty lab on May 15, 2018. An amazing team of researchers - both former and current members of the group - have creatively driven the research and translational goals forward, with great personal and collective success! Congratulations, and a BIG thanks to everyone, including all colleagues at the University of Luxembourg and collaborators worldwide for their help and support which led to this milestone. Warm wishes and very best for the future!
May 9, 2023: Anupam speaks about Microbial Active Matter at the UMIK Seminar Series of the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG) in Dübendorf. Engaging discussions with the scientists and the warm hospitality were clear highlights!
April 21, 2023: Members of the Physics of Living Matter Group along with colleagues from the Technology Transfer Office of the UL visit Peinture Robin to bolster ongoing collaborations within the framework of the μ-BITS Project for the development of sustainable materials.
March 10, 2023: Sengupta Lab is currently accepting applications for the following openings:
(a) 1 PhD position in Active Immuno-mechanics of Cancer Environments, embedded within the CANCER BIOLOGY-2 Doctoral Training Unit for state-of-the-art cancer research in Luxembourg. For details and application procedure, see here, or drop an email to anupam.sengupta@uni.lu with recent CV and cover letter.
(b) Postdoctoral Fellowships within the Young International Academics Programme of the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS), Luxembourg. The selected fellows will carry out cutting-edge cross-disciplinary research on a topic of common interest, supported jointly by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Co-Fund Project and the IAS Luxembourg. For details see here, or drop an email to anupam.sengupta@uni.lu with recent CV, cover letter, list of publications and achievements.
March 7, 2023: Anupam joins Prof. Amin Doostmohammadi and Prof. Evelyn Tang as Guest Editors of the focus issue, Interactive Active Matter, in Communications Physics (open access journal from Nature Portfolio), to bring together interdisciplinary research at the interface of physics, microbiology, stem cell biology, and mechanobiology. Article submissions are open till September 2023, for scope and submission details, please check here.
February 28, 2023: Dr. Chenyu Jin, postdoctoral fellow in the Sengupta Lab, is awarded the prestigious PRIME Fellowship of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). CONGRATULATIONS Chenyu!!
February 10-20, 2023: Anupam delivers a series of lectures in India, upon invitation from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT, Govt. of India), the Human Frontiers Science Program Organization (HFSPO) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). A heartfelt thanks to the organizers for the kind invitations and the opportunity to visit some of the leading centers of research in India.
February 6, 2023: Steering self-organisation through confinement : a perspective article based on a major international collaboration appears in Soft Matter. The link to the article here. A big thanks to Nuno A. M. Araújo, Liesbeth Janssen, Alvaro Marin and Giorgio Volpe for leading the efforts, which nucleated around an interdisciplinary Lorentz Workshop in the Spring of 2022.
January - October, 2022: The Sengupta Lab welcomes new members of the lab: Dr. Daria Rotko, Dr. Sumana Bhattacharyya, Dr. Pratyush Pranav and Dr. Anita Chavan. Wishing you all an exciting scientific stay ahead!
2022
December 5, 2022: Narges wins second prize for her oral presentation at the 2022-DPHYMS workshop. Congratulations Narges!
December 3, 2022: Curvature in Biology review article, co-authored by an international team of researchers, appears in the journal Advanced Materials. The link to the article here.
November 4, 2022: Active reconfiguration of cytoplasmic lipid droplets governs migration of nutrient-limited phytoplankton appears in the journal Science Advances. CONGRATULATIONS to everyone on this achievement! The link to the article here. See Active lipids enable intelligent swimming under nutrient limitation for an easy read and overview of our research findings.
September - October, 2022: Anupam represents Luxembourg as a Young Leader at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Science, Technology and Society Forum, Kyoto, Japan
September 18, 2022: The Sengupta Lab joins outreach activities as part of the Portes Ouvertes 2022. Three different experimental stations were presented by the lab, on each on phytoplankton, bacteria and liquid crystals.
September, 2022: Arka represents the Sengupta Lab at the International Soft Matter Conference in Poznań, Poland.
August, 2022: The Sengupta Lab is awarded the JUMP Grant of 249,000 euro by the Luxembourg National Research Fund for driving innovations in biogenic materials.
August, 2022: After two years of delay due to the Covid-19, the Lorentz Workshop on Active Matter: The Next 25 Years , co-organized by Anupam, finally takes place in Leiden.
July, 2022: Sengupta Lab wins multiple awards at the 2022 FNR Science Image Competition. Congratulations to Vamsee and Victor for their winning image. Here are the winning entries: (i) The Sun Spot, and (ii) The Bubbly Oil, here.
July 11-15, 2022: Arka and Anupam present lectures on the physical ecology of microbes during the Alpine Microbiology School, Lake Cadagno, Switzerland.
July 4, 2022: Self-regulation of phenotypic noise synchronizes emergent organization and active transport in confluent microbial environments appears in the journal Nature Physics. CONGRATULATIONS to everyone on this achievement! Access the article here. See Active Time Management: Strategies from the bacterial world for a popular version of our discovery reported in the paper.
June 25, 2022: The phytoplankton research in Sengupta Lab is the cover story of the magazine TÉLÉCRAN. Narges, Arka and Anupam discuss their research in an interview titled Winziger Weltretter (The Miniscule Recuer), and suggest the emerging roles of phytoplankton under changing climatic conditions.
June 21, 2022: Anupam writes a commentary for the journal Physics of the American Physical Society, titled Complex Dance of Light-Seeking Algae in Light Gradients. The commentary reports on a recent letter in Physical Review Letters explaining different self-organized patterns formed by motile light-responsive microbes. Here is the link to the commentary.
February - September, 2022: Anupam to deliver series of invited lectures at various international conferences and workshops on soft, active and living matter physics, including at Leiden, Erice, Nordita and Dresden.
January - November, 2022: The Sengupta Lab welcomes new members of the lab: Dr. Marija Stamenkovic, Mr. Soumitree Mishra and Mr. Francesco de Nezio (visiting PhD student from U. Geneva and SUPSI), Dr. Trinish Sarkar, Mr. Victor da Silva and Dr. Chenyu Jin. Looking forward to an exciting journey ahead!
2021
September 19, 2021: The Sengupta Lab was an active site during the Portes Ouvertes 2021. Both young and experienced visitors interacted with our researchers working on the topics of phytoplankton, bacteria and liquid crystals.
July, 2021: Anupam holds lectures and laboratory demonstrations for Masters students during the Alpine Microbiology School, Lake Cadagno, Switzerland.
July 12, 2021: Research on liquid crystal microflows in capillaries by Dr. Paul Steffen, visiting scholar in the Sengupta Lab, is published in the journal Physics of Fluids, link to the paper here.
April 7-9, 2021: Arka and Anupam present at the CurvoBio2021 workshop, held online due to the pandemic.
April 1, 2021: Dr. Garima Rani is awarded the Human Frontier Cross-Disciplinary Fellowship. CONGRATULATIONS Garima!
February 15, 2021: Anupam take over as the new Director of the Bachelor in Physics Program of the University of Luxembourg. A short interview on Anupam's new role and the challenges ahead can be found here.
February 2, 2021: Anupam co-leads groundbreaking study in collaboration with reseachers at ETH Zurich, Uppsala University and the Wiezmann Institute of Science, to reveal exquisite stress-sensing strategy employed by phytoplankton in turbulent conditions. The research is published in the journal PNAS, link to the paper here.
January - November, 2021: The Sengupta Lab keeps growing with the joining of new members: Dr. Vamseekrishna Ulaganathan, Mr. Srikrishnaa Jayaraman, Ms. Narges Kakavand, Ms. Sharadhi Nagaraja, Dr. René Riedel and Dr. Garima Rani. A warm welcome to everyone!
2020
December 30, 2020: Anshul, Irvine and Anupam contribute an invited paper on time dependent lyotropic textures for the journal Crystals, special issue on Early Career Stars of the Decade (2010-2020). Link to the paper here.
December 17, 2020: The Sengupta Lab is awarded the AUDACITY Grant of the Institute of Advanced Studies (U. Luxembourg) for the proposed project CAMEOS (CAncer Microbiome: Emergent Organisation and Stability across scales), to be carried out in collaboration with the team of Elisabeth Letellier. A brief description of the project can be found here.
October 14, 2020: Anupam speaks at TED's COUNTDOWN initiative in climate research and sustainability science. Link to the TEDx talk here.
June 23, 2020: Anupam writes an invited perspective for the journal Frontiers in Physics, titled Microbial Active Matter: A Topological Framework. Link to the perspective here.
May 29, 2020: The Sengupta Lab is featured on the national daily, Luxemburg Wort. Congratulations everyone!
April 29, 2020: The Sengupta Lab joins forces to fight COVID-19 through the fast-track project V-SIDE (Virus-surface Interactions In Dynamic Environments). The project is co-funded by the Luxembourg National Research Fund and the CINVEN Foundation.
March 30, 2020: The Sengupta Lab is excited to join their second PRIDE Grant for the project ACTIVE (Active Phenomena Across Scales in Biological Systems). Details of the grant here.
February 4, 2020: Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship awarded to postdoctoral researcher Dr. Irvine Ong. CONGRATULATIONS Irvine!
January 2020: Anupam co-authors book chapter with Marco G. Mazza, titled Liquid Crystals at Interfaces and Under Flow: Recent Advances and Trends for the book Soft Matter and Biomaterials on the Nanoscale: The WSPC Reference on Functional Nanomaterials—Part I Volume 1.
January - November, 2020: The Sengupta Lab welcomes all new members of the lab: Ms Sarah Mueller, Jérôme Burelbach, Ms. Ghazaleh Eshaghi and Dr. Paul Steffen!
2019
December 17, 2019: Paper on Emergent biaxiality in nematic microflows illuminated by a laser beam, in collaboration with groups of Marco G. Mazza and Martin Schoen, appears in the journal Molecular Physics. Link to the paper here.
October 30, 2019: Sengupta Lab is awarded the FNR-CORE Grant. The little over 0.75 million euro grant will allow Sengupta Lab to develop and harness Topological Fluid Mechanics understanding the dynamics of soft and living matter systems. Details here.
October 21, 2019: Paper on Mono-to multilayer transition in growing bacterial colonies , in collaboration with Luca Giomi's team, appears in the journal Physical Review Letters. Link to the paper here.
October 9, 2019: Anupam delivers plenary talk in Ancona, Italy during the EU-SoftComp/EUSMI Annual Meeting.
September 22, 2019: Sengupta Lab has a gala time during their first Open Lab Day of Luxembourg, Click here for the after-movie.
September 16, 2019: Doctoral student, Arkajyoti Ghoshal is awarded the AFR Grant from Luxembourg National Research Fund. KUDOS Arka!!
May 28, 2019: Paper on Dark aerobic sulfide oxidation by anoxygenic phototrophs in anoxic waters appears in the journal Environmental Microbiology. Link to the paper here.
May 28, 2019: Anupam spends an interactive afternoon with students, researchers and secondary school teachers of Luxembourg to discuss how microorganisms and physics can join forces to safeguard us through the times of changing climate. Link here.
May 19, 2019: The Marine Particles and Phycospheres conference begins in Ascona, Switzerland following a year of collaborative organization between the ETH Zurich, MIT, U. Georgia and U. Washington (Seattle), and U. Luxembourg. Link here.
March, 2019: Human Frontier Cross-Disciplinary Fellowship awarded to postdoctoral researcher Dr. Jayabrata Dhar. CONGRATULATIONS!
March, 2019: Swiss Early Mobility Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded to postdoctoral researcher Dr. Francesco Danza. CONGRATULATIONS!
January, 2019: Anupam delivers invited lecture at the Gordon Conference for Complex Active and Adaptive Material Systems in Ventura, California. Link here.
January - November, 2019: The Sengupta Lab is excited to welcome its newest members: Dr. Irvine Ong, Dr. Anshul Sharma, Dr. Jayabrata Dhar, Dr. Francesco Danza and Mr. Arkajyoti Ghoshal!
2018
November, 2018: Anupam delivers invited lecture at the European Optical Technologies Conference in Munich, Germany. Link here.
September 12, 2018: Anupam's paper on the geometry and mechanics of bacterial colonies is published in Physical Review X. Link to the paper here.
May 15, 2018: The Physics of Living Matter Group officially starts at the University of Luxembourg.
March 29, 2018: The Swiss National Science Foundation awards research grant to study Bioconvection-mediated microbial ecophysiology in aquatic systems. The funding (~0.5 million euro) will allow an international collaboration between researchers from SUPSI, EPFL and EAWAG in Switzerland, and the Sengupta Lab. Further details of the project here.
January - December, 2018: The Sengupta Lab welcomes sets off with its first members: Dr.Luise Kleine-Borgmann, Ms. Urša Lamovec and Ms. Anh L. P. Thai. A warm welcome to everyone!
2017
July 3, 2017: The 2017 FNR-ATTRACT Investigator Grant is awarded to Anupam for the proposal MBRACE (Microbial Biophysics of Rapid Adaptation in Changing Environments). The 1.5 million euro grant will allow to establish the Physics of Living Matter Group, within the Department of Physics and Materials Science, U. Luxembourg. Further details of the project can be found here.
July 3, 2017: Anupam's paper topological cross-talk of defects appears in PNAS. Link to the paper here.
May 30, 2017: Anupam's paper on cavitation in liquid crystals appears in Nature Communications. Link to the paper here.
March 15, 2017: Anupam's paper on shape-shifting phytoplankton appears in Nature. Link to the paper here.