Publications

(A complete list of Francesca Serra’s publications can be found here )

P. Awasthi, A. Murali, E.J. Pørtner, A.C. Simonsen, F. Serra, Surface functionalization modulates collective cell behavior near topological defects induced by surface patterning. Adv. Mater. Interfaces (2026) https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/admi.70661 

K. Endresen, A. Murali, B. C. Geerds, G. M. Valenzuela Portillo, M. Bloksgaard, D. J. G. Pearce, F. Serra, Actuation of cells in three dimensions. Adv. Mater. 38, e22191 (2026) https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.202522191 (arxiv preprint here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.17834 )

A. Murali, P. Awasthi, K. Endresen, A. Goszczak, F. Serra, Splay and bend deformations in cells near corners, Soft Matter 2025 https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/sm/d5sm00093a (arxiv preprint here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.07517 )

S. Hare, A. de la Vega, F. Serra, Quantifying memory: detection of focal conic domain rearrangement across a phase transition, Soft Matter (2025) https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/sm/d4sm00940a 

Z. Zheng, F. Serra, Effect of smectic polymers on cholesteric liquid crystals, Phys. Rev. E 110, 054703 (2024) https://journals.aps.org/pre/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevE.110.054703 

A. Modin, R. Leheny, F. Serra, Spatial Photo-Patterning of Nematic Liquid Crystal Pretilt and its Application in Fabricating Flat Gradient-Index Lenses, Adv. Mater. 36, e2310083  (2024)  https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202310083 

A. Modin*, B. Ash*,  K. Ishimoto, R. Leheny, F. Serra, H. Aharoni, Tunable three-dimensional architecture of nematic disclination lines, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 120, e2300833120 (2023) 

(arxiv link: doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2301.04594)

K. Kaiyrbekov*, K. Endresen*, K. Sullivan, Z. Zheng, Y. Chen, F. Serra,  B. A. Camley, Migration and division in cell monolayers on substrates with topological defects, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 120, e2301197120 (2023) 

(bioarxiv link: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.12.22.521493) 

M. S. Kim, F. Serra , Quasicrystalline arrays and Moire patterns in nematic liquid crystals for soft photonics, Adv. Opt. Mater. 10, 2200916 (2022)

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adom.202200916

 K. D. Endresen, M.S. Kim, M. Pittman, Y. Chen, F. Serra, Topological defects of integer charge in cell monolayers, Soft Matter (2021)

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2021/sm/d1sm00100k

J. X. Velez, Z. Zheng, D. Beller, F. Serra, Emergence and stabilization of transient twisted defect structures in confined achiral liquid crystals at a phase transition, Soft Matter 17, 3848 (2021)

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2021/SM/D0SM02040K#!divAbstract

S. M. Hare, B. Lunsford-Poe, M.S. Kim, F. Serra, Chiral liquid crystal lenses confined in microchannels, Materials 13, 3761 (2020)

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/13/17/3761

M.S. Kim, F. Serra, Topological defect arrays in nematic liquid crystals assisted by polymeric pillar arrays: effect of the geometry of pillars,  Crystals 10, 314 (2020)

https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4352/10/4/314/htm

M.S. Kim, F. Serra, Tunable dynamic topological defect pattern formation in nematic liquid crystals, Adv. Optical Mater.  8, 1900991 (2020) - COVER IMAGE

https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.201900991

M.S. Kim, F. Serra, Tunable large-scale regular array of topological defects in nematic liquid crystals, RSC Adv. 8, 35640 (2018)

https://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/RA/2018/C8RA08251K#!divAbstract