Enclosed liquid structures, such as droplets and liposomes, are ubiquitous in nature and as a result are studied across a broad range of scientific disciplines. The summer school Fundamental studies on aqueous interfaces and droplets aims to bridge various scientific approaches used to study droplets and aqueous interfaces. The participants will learn about various topics including formation and manipulation of droplets, spectroscopic and microscopy techniques used to study the fundamental properties of droplets and interfaces. The summer school will address questions regarding the molecular-level understanding of droplets and interfaces of different systems ranging from the gas phase aerosols to lipid membranes. Through interactive discussions, the participants will broaden their current scientific mind-sets and discover complementary research areas and experimental methods.

All participants will be asked to give a short talk (20 min) in order to allow for in-depth, one-to-one discussions on particular research topics. One of the goals of the summer school is to also foster collaborations and partnerships. Hence it is proposed to have common dinners and evening programmes in order to allow for networking and exchange of ideas between ETH and EPFL students.

Upon completion EPFL students will receive 1ETCS.

Prof. Dr. Ruth Signorell will deliver a lecture on optical trapping, explaining the mechanism behind isolating a single aerosol particle in air using lasers. This lecture will be followed by a series of talks by graduate students about different experiments performed on single optically-trapped aerosol particles.

Prof. Dr. Sylvie Roke will deliver a keynote lecture on different spectroscopic techniques that can be used to probe surfaces and interfaces. These include femtosecond second harmonic scattering, sum-frequency scattering and second harmonic generation microscopy. Individual students will then give detailed presentations and show how these techniques can be utilized in specific studies, in order to investigate aqueous interfaces, learn about surface interactions, study transport through interfaces and better understand the processes happening in close proximity to lipid membranes.

Prof. Dr. Petra Dittrich will deliver a keynote lecture on microfluidics devices, where different methods used for liposome and droplet formation and observation will be explained. This lecture will be followed by presentations from students about particular aspects of these methods and its applications to answer fundamental or biologically-relevant questions.

Prof. Dr. Paolo Arosio will deliver a lecture on microfluidics and biophysical techniques that can be used to analyze biochemical reactions and protein self-assembly in cell-like microreactors .

Dr. Michael Cotterell will deliver a keynote lecture on the optical spectroscopy of light absorbing aerosol particles relevant to atmospheric science, and the challenges in measuring light absorption properties for aqueous droplets. The lecture will introduce the principles of cavity ring-down spectroscopy and photoacoustic spectroscopy, and we will explore applying these techniques to ensembles (100s to 1000s of particles per cubic centimetre) and levitated single particles.

Prof. Barbara Wyslouzil will deliver a lecture on supersonic nozzles, explaining how nanodroplets form and evolve in high speed flows, as well as discussing the techniques used to explore the structure of the nanodroplets. The lecture will be followed by a graduate student talk about using nozzles to study freezing in aqueous-alcohol nanodroplets.

Dr. Emmanouil Chatzigiannakis will deliver a lecture on the existing experimental methods to study droplet coalescence and film dynamics. He will explain how these two processes are controlled by a complex interplay between hydrodynamics, capillarity, surface stresses, and intermolecular forces. He will then briefly mention some recent experimental results, explaining how surface and osmotic stresses control the dynamics of films of different constituents.

When: July 27 - 30, 2021

Where: ETH Zurich

Cost:

Master students: CHF 50.-

Doctoral students: CHF 150.-

Postdocs and group leaders: CHF 175.-

Please note that following current federal corona measures will be in place.

The registration is closed.

We are looking forward to see you in Zurich!

For information regarding this summer school do not hesitate to reach to us at: dropletschool2020@ethz.ch

Organizers:

Matus Diveky (Laboratory of Physical Chemistry, ETHZ)

Ariane Stucki (Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETHZ)

Tereza Schönfeldová (Laboratory for fundamental BioPhotonics, EPFL)