News
Predicting the future can be a matter of life or death. Just think, every time you cross the street, you predict whether this is possible without being run over. Experiments show that even single-celled organisms such as bacteria can predict the future. The better bacteria can predict changes in their environment, the greater their chances of survival. AMOLF researchers from the theory group of Pieter Rein ten Wolde discovered that E. coli bacteria collect the information with the best price-to-quality ratio to predict the future. The researchers publish the results on October 4th in the journal PNAS.
A team of researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Research (ISE, Freiburg) and AMOLF (Amsterdam) have fabricated a multijunction solar cell with an efficiency of 36.1%, the highest efficiency ever reached for a solar cell based on silicon. The team presented the new record at the European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (PVSEC) in Lisbon on Thursday, September 21, 2023.
Corrugated plastic turns out to be exemplary of a new class of ‘multistable’ metamaterials that can reversibly change shape. This insight can lead to new applications, from robots to medical devices. Physicists Anne Meeussen (previously AMOLF/Leiden University, now Harvard University) and Martin van Hecke (AMOLF/Leiden University) describe these materials in a Nature publication that is published on 20 September 2023.
To understand the fundamental processes of life we need to understand the language that cells use to communicate with each other and to orchestrate their joint behavior. This is important for vital processes such as DNA replication, protein synthesis and signal transmission. Since cells communicate through interactions of molecules, researchers at AMOLF and the Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Munich developed a technique to study individual molecules in model membranes. They first published the results in 2021 (see reference below). Using self-renewing DNA-based fluorescent labels, they were able to observe them for extended times. Overcoming the constraints of conventional fading fluorescent markers, the new technique enables unprecedented quantitative studies of molecular interactions in living systems. Now, their latest advancements on this DNA-PAINT based single-particle tracking method (DNA-PAINT-SPT) also enables them to see individual molecules binding to each other in live cells. This study was published in Nature Communications on July 19th (see reference below).
AMOLF researchers discovered that stem cells first specialize into a functional cell and then move to the proper location – rather than the other way around.
Dr. Esther Alarcón Lladó has been appointed professor by special appointment in Nano-electrochemistry and Renewable Energy Materials at the Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam (UvA). The chair was established on behalf of the Foundation for the Advancement of Atomic and Molecular Physics (‘Stichting tot bevordering van de Atoom- en Molecuulfysica’) with the Van’t Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences (HIMS) of the UvA.
AMOLF researcher Christiaan Van Campenhout has found a new, simple method to create a material with a regular pattern of crystalline bands. The pattern formed by the crystals is not a coincidence. With a simple setup, the researchers can precisely control the width of the bands and their spacing. This could be a straightforward and cost-effective way to produce optics, electronics, or sensors. The research was published in the journal Advanced Materials on August 2, 2023.
Former AMOLF Phd student Andrea Cordaro receives an NWO Rubicon grant to start his research project ‘Mathematics at the speed of light’ at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in the United States.
Former AMOLF PhD student Julia van der Burgt has won the Young Speakers Contest organized by the Netherlands’ Physical Society (NNV). The contest was part of the annual FYSICA event on May 26th. The audience at this event listened to three presentations and were asked to vote afterwards leading to van der Burgt winning first prize.
Routing signals and isolating them against noise and back-reflections are essential in many practical situations in classical communication as well as in quantum processing. In a theory-experimental collaboration, a team led by Andreas Nunnenkamp from the University of Vienna and AMOLF group leader Ewold Verhagen has achieved unidirectional transport of signals in pairs of “one-way streets”. This research published in Nature Physics opens up new possibilities for more flexible signaling devices.
The consortium Holland Hybrid Heart (HHH), which includes Soft Robotic Matter group leader Bas Overvelde (AMOLF and TU/e), has received 10 million euro in funding from the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA-ORC). The total budget for the project is 11 million euro. The team will use the funding to take a new step in the development of a soft robotic heart for people with severe heart failure. In the consortium, universities and universities of applied sciences, companies, and patient organizations collaborate on developing a soft robotic heart that can be implanted in patients’ chests to take over from the real heart. Worldwide, there are over 23 million people with heart failure, for which the best treatment is receiving a donor heart, of which there is a severe shortage.
The Dutch government invests 312 million euro, plus a loan of 100 million euro, in a national program for large-scale production of solar cells and solar panels in the Netherlands. This was announced by Rianne Letschert, chair of the Advice Committee of the Dutch National Growth Fund, during a press conference on Friday, June 30th. AMOLF participates in SolarNL with research on new solar cell materials and technologies. Also, the SolarNL program office will be located at AMOLF.