Laura Alvarez
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lauraal.bsky.social
Laura Alvarez
@lauraal.bsky.social
Cell-mimetic active systems, bioinspired materials.
Associate Professor at Uni Bordeaux
Group leader of @softbiocol.bsky.social (CRPP, CNRS)
Previously ETH Zurich

Website: https://www.softbiocoll.com/

Rugby player (she/her)
Pinned
Our recent article "Run and tumble dynamics of active Janus vesicles" in @softmatter.rsc.org has been featured on the cover of the journal.

Check out the published article: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Congrats to Vivien Willems for this nice work!
Our experiments with giant lipid vesicles from @univbordeaux.bsky.social @crpp-bordeaux.bsky.social in collab with @dlr-en.bsky.social are ready for lift off!

#science #spaceresearch #softmatter

@syncelleu.bsky.social

Photo credit: @dlr-de.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 1:19 PM
November 10, 2025 at 8:08 AM
MAPHEUS16 rocket is almost ready! 🚀

🦠We have 2 experiments #Nymex & #Vesicolos, where we study #lipidvesicles in ugravity. Previous results showed unexpected behavior. Hopefully, we can complete the story in this campaign.

@dlr-de.bsky.social @univbordeaux.bsky.social
November 9, 2025 at 11:21 AM
We’re back in Kiruna for the #MAPHEUS16 #Microgravity campaign 🚀 #SoftMatter
This time we’re flying two experiments on giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). #NyMEx #VESICOLOS
@crpp-bordeaux.bsky.social @univbordeaux.bsky.social
@dlr-en.bsky.social
November 2, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Great week at #ISMC2025 in Crete 🇬🇷! First conf for us as @softbiocol.bsky.social group, presenting talks, posters & bringing home 2 #PosterPrizes 🏆. Honored to give a #Keynote on #JanusActiveVesicles 🧫. Thanks to the organizers & great to see friends from #ETHZürich! #SoftMatter #ActiveMatter
October 5, 2025 at 8:52 AM
I take enormous pleasure interacting with this stimulating community and sharing our experimental designs of bioinspired out of equilibrium systems.

Many thanks to Rosalba, Matteo and Alessandro for putting together the workshop, and inviting me to present.
Day 2 of the workshop “Statistical physics of living systems”!
Felix Ritort (University of Barcelona) opened today’s program with a talk on “Hetaomics for life”, followed by Shigeyuki Komura (Wenzhou Institute, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences) who spoke on “Information swimmers”.
September 19, 2025 at 6:59 PM
An army of crocheted GUVs just joined the group! Emotional support for tough vesicle experiments. We know working with GUVs can be non-trivial. The backup is welcome ;)

Thanks, Ana Cazorla, for this thoughtful present! Amazing student ideas!
#SoftMatter #LabLife #lipidvesicles
September 11, 2025 at 11:14 AM
It's a pleasure to formally be part of the lab. For many more years of good science & fun! An amazing place to be!🥳

Congrats also to @auroredupin.bsky.social for the CNRS position. So great to have you with us

@crpp-bordeaux.bsky.social @univbordeaux.bsky.social

www.crpp.cnrs.fr/nos-deux-rec...
Nos deux recrues 2025! - CRPP
Laura Alvarez Frances a été recrutée en juin 2025 en tant que Maitre de Conférence Université de Bordeaux. Elle était sur une chaire UB depuis quelques années et a obtenu sa titularisation ! Aurore Du...
www.crpp.cnrs.fr
August 27, 2025 at 7:09 AM
This is fantastic research and even better outreach!!
Check out our comic illustrated by
@jordancollver.bsky.social and @rikworth.bsky.social , colors by @owenwattsdraws.bsky.social .

-- find the full comic and more here
bhamla.gatech.edu/project-blog...
August 23, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Reposted by Laura Alvarez
How do tiny ripple bugs surf raging rivers? Check out our new work in @science.org

Work led by Victor Ortega-Jimenez, Dongjin Kim, Sunny Kumar, Changhwan Kim, Je-Sung Koh, and Saad Bhamla - a collaboration between UC Berkeley, Georgia Tech, and Ajou University.

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Ultrafast elastocapillary fans control agile maneuvering in ripple bugs and robots
Rhagovelia ripple bugs use specialized middle-leg fans with a flat-ribbon architecture to navigate the surfaces of fast-moving streams. We show that the fan’s directional stiffness enables fast, passi...
www.science.org
August 23, 2025 at 8:37 PM
Our recent article "Run and tumble dynamics of active Janus vesicles" in @softmatter.rsc.org has been featured on the cover of the journal.

Check out the published article: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Congrats to Vivien Willems for this nice work!
August 10, 2025 at 4:39 PM
We love our science and its artistic side! Check our group website to see the various pictures taken in our group @softbiocol.bsky.social
@crpp-bordeaux.bsky.social @univbordeaux.bsky.social
🎨🔬 In our lab, science meets art! From vibrant colors to stunning shapes, our experiments are as beautiful as they are fascinating. Because science is art!

✨ Check out our gallery of images captured by the team:
www.softbiocoll.com

#SciArt #SoftMatter #Microscopy #SyntheticCells #ActiveMatter
July 21, 2025 at 11:08 PM
A new chapter begins as Associate Professor!

Thanks to all the people involved, my local mentors (@baretjc.bsky.social ‬and H.Kellay), former supervisors (special mention to Laboratory for Soft Materials and Interfaces w/ to Lucio Isa), collaborators, my colleagues at CRPP and friends
Last weekend, we gathered to beat the heat with a lovely picnic, and to celebrate the recent tenure of our group leader @lauraal.bsky.social
Here’s to many more exciting years of science and friendship with you and those yet to join!
#softmatter @univbordeaux.bsky.social @crpp-bordeaux.bsky.social
June 24, 2025 at 12:34 PM
New prepint w/ @demianlevis.bsky.social
@natxopago.bsky.social L. Isa and E.Sesé-Sansa.
We study active binary mixtures to unveil how two populations of active colloids with different motilities interact with each other.

Thanks for the great work!🥳

arxiv.org/abs/2506.15188
June 19, 2025 at 6:37 AM
Thank you so much to the @cpjfrance.bsky.social
for this Portrait! Very happy to be part of this program as a Chair Junior MdC!
@univbordeaux.bsky.social
@crpp-bordeaux.bsky.social
June 6, 2025 at 7:34 AM
Discover more about our group members!
SoftBioColloids group portraits! 🗒️
We will be posting portraits of our group members, so you get to know a bit more about the people driving the science in the group.

We start with the portrait of Vivien Willems👇
More info softbiocoll.com
June 4, 2025 at 2:40 PM
New publication from our group @softbiocol.bsky.social
led by Vivien Willems.
Check the group Twitter thread about it below👇
A step forward on active soft microsystems
Thanks to all the colleagues who made this happen!
@crpp-bordeaux.bsky.social
@univbordeaux.bsky.social
Publication Alert!🎉
🚀🧪 New paper out! @softmatter.rsc.org @rsc.org

We show that Janus lipid vesicles can self-propel under AC electric fields, exhibiting run-and-tumble dynamics—just like bacteria, but driven by membrane-phase behavior.
👉 Read here: pubs.rsc.org/en/content/art
May 26, 2025 at 9:50 AM
What a great evening together! A small family inside and outside the lab!
Thanks to all the group members for making my PI experience so amazing :) 🥳
The active softies of the group met some weeks ago to spend a nice evening together and enjoy some international delicacies!🧀🍷
What a blessing being surrounded by these amazing humans!
If you want to know more about us, check the news on our website :)

softbiocoll.com/general-5
May 20, 2025 at 7:38 AM
New group article led by J. Fojo in @softmatter.rsc.org @rsc.org on 2D percolated networks of colloidal rods!
This article forms part of the collection in honour of our collegue Stefan Egelhaaf.
Thank to eveyone who made it possible!
@crpp-bordeaux.bsky.social @univbordeaux.bsky.social
Publication Alert!📢
Check our new article by José in collab with C. Fernandez-Rico, L. Rodriguez-Arco M. Dijkstra R. Subert & M. Lopez.
We engineering reversible 2D rod percolated networks!
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...
#SoftMatter #Colloids
@crpp-bordeaux.bsky.social @univbordeaux.bsky.social
May 6, 2025 at 8:16 AM
It was a pleasrue to have @asciortino.bsky.social with us last week at @crpp-bordeaux.bsky.social
Thanks for showing us the beauty of soft interface driven out-of-equilibrium :) - and the best explanation on nematic defects ever!
Today we have a seminar by Alfredo Scortino from the CytoMorpholab, invited by @lauraal.bsky.social

Minimal cytoskeleton for Syn Cell !

@crpp-bordeaux.bsky.social
April 14, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by Laura Alvarez
In our latest preprint, we introduce GAUDI!

GAUDI is an unsupervised geometric deep learning framework for analyzing complex graph-structured data.

Work by Mirja Granfors, Jesús Pineda, @cmanzo.bsky.social @joana-b-pereira.bsky.social Blanca Zufiria Gerbolés

👉 arxiv.org/abs/2503.05560
March 12, 2025 at 10:13 AM
Synetic Cell MC Doctoral Network PhD offer alert!📌 at @kgoepfrich.bsky.social
group in Heidelberg!
If you are interested in RNA origami, synthetic cells, & membranes, contact Kerstin with a CV and a transcript of your records!
More info goepfrichgroup.de
& sigsyncell.crpp.cnrs.fr
March 11, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Reposted by Laura Alvarez
When you look at the audience trying to guess who your reviewer might be
March 5, 2025 at 5:16 AM
Reposted by Laura Alvarez
Happy to share our Nature Reviews Physics roadmap on how machine learning is transforming our understanding of glassy dynamics! ✨

👉Shout out to Gerhard Jung for his fantastic job on this project!

www.linkedin.com/posts/gvolpe...
Giovanni Volpe on LinkedIn: Roadmap on machine learning glassy dynamics - Nature Reviews Physics
Our latest publication, "Roadmap on Machine Learning Glassy Dynamics," published in Nature Reviews Physics! 🎉 In this work, we explore how machine…
www.linkedin.com
February 17, 2025 at 7:42 AM
Moitas grazas por o apoio e por dar visibilidade ó noso traballo.

A labor que facedes é parte da loita!

Thanks a lot for the support! Hopefully many more girls will get motivated to pursue their curiosity into a scientific career!

@univbordeaux.bsky.social
@crpp-bordeaux.bsky.social
@cnrs.fr
Con motivo do #11F, falamos con varias científicas galegas, que se atopan tanto en Galicia como no estranxeiro 🌍

Hoxe queremos presentarvos a @lauraal.bsky.social. Esta viguesa é química-física da materia branda e investiga en Burdeos 👩‍🔬

Segue lendo para saber máis sobre Laura Álvarez! ⬇️
February 12, 2025 at 8:27 PM