Matilda Backholm
@matildabackholm.bsky.social
Assistant Professor in Soft Matter Physics at Aalto University, Finland | Forces and flow in mesoscale living, fluid, & soft matter | ERC StG laureate & Research Council of Finland Fellow | EPL co-editor
aalto.fi/living-matter
aalto.fi/living-matter
Pinned
My current research keywords: soft matter physics, biomechanics, micro/meso-swimming, plant physics, capillary phenomena, force sensing, fluid dynamics, experimental physics
New paper out in @commsphys.nature.com by Rafael Ayala Lara & Sharadhi Nagaraja et al.
Forces and symmetry breaking of a living meso-swimmer
doi.org/10.1038/s420...
Funded by @erc.europa.eu & Research Council of Finland
Forces and symmetry breaking of a living meso-swimmer
doi.org/10.1038/s420...
Funded by @erc.europa.eu & Research Council of Finland
Forces and symmetry breaking of a living meso-swimmer - Communications Physics
The physics of swimming at the mesoscale, where nonlinear and time-dependent fluid mechanics prevail, remains poorly understood. Here, the authors use a micropipette force sensor and deep neural netwo...
doi.org
February 12, 2026 at 7:30 AM
New paper out in @commsphys.nature.com by Rafael Ayala Lara & Sharadhi Nagaraja et al.
Forces and symmetry breaking of a living meso-swimmer
doi.org/10.1038/s420...
Funded by @erc.europa.eu & Research Council of Finland
Forces and symmetry breaking of a living meso-swimmer
doi.org/10.1038/s420...
Funded by @erc.europa.eu & Research Council of Finland
Reposted by Matilda Backholm
The annual meeting of the Finnish Physical Society "Physics Days" will be held at Aalto University from March 4th to 6th, 2026.
events.aalto.fi/en/3X3IKxA7/...
events.aalto.fi/en/3X3IKxA7/...
December 5, 2025 at 1:45 PM
The annual meeting of the Finnish Physical Society "Physics Days" will be held at Aalto University from March 4th to 6th, 2026.
events.aalto.fi/en/3X3IKxA7/...
events.aalto.fi/en/3X3IKxA7/...
Had a fantastic time visiting DAMTP in Cambridge this week. What a stunning academic setting and beautiful old campus.
November 1, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Had a fantastic time visiting DAMTP in Cambridge this week. What a stunning academic setting and beautiful old campus.
9th International Soft Matter Conference, Crete.
September 29, 2025 at 6:42 AM
9th International Soft Matter Conference, Crete.
First day back on campus after my vacation. Did I tell you I have the best group?
August 6, 2025 at 6:07 AM
First day back on campus after my vacation. Did I tell you I have the best group?
Reposted by Matilda Backholm
New #JRSocInterface paper: Soft matter mechanics of immune cell aggregates. Read more: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #biomechanics @matildabackholm.bsky.social
August 3, 2025 at 5:02 PM
New #JRSocInterface paper: Soft matter mechanics of immune cell aggregates. Read more: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... #biomechanics @matildabackholm.bsky.social
📣 New paper alert:
"Soft matter mechanics of immune cell aggregates" now out in J. Roy. Soc. Interface @royalsocietypublishing.org
doi.org/10.1098/rsif...
Project led by Shohreh Askari and Guillem Saldo Rubio in a wonderful, multidisciplinary collaboration with Prof. Fagerholm @helsinki.fi
"Soft matter mechanics of immune cell aggregates" now out in J. Roy. Soc. Interface @royalsocietypublishing.org
doi.org/10.1098/rsif...
Project led by Shohreh Askari and Guillem Saldo Rubio in a wonderful, multidisciplinary collaboration with Prof. Fagerholm @helsinki.fi
July 25, 2025 at 10:42 AM
📣 New paper alert:
"Soft matter mechanics of immune cell aggregates" now out in J. Roy. Soc. Interface @royalsocietypublishing.org
doi.org/10.1098/rsif...
Project led by Shohreh Askari and Guillem Saldo Rubio in a wonderful, multidisciplinary collaboration with Prof. Fagerholm @helsinki.fi
"Soft matter mechanics of immune cell aggregates" now out in J. Roy. Soc. Interface @royalsocietypublishing.org
doi.org/10.1098/rsif...
Project led by Shohreh Askari and Guillem Saldo Rubio in a wonderful, multidisciplinary collaboration with Prof. Fagerholm @helsinki.fi
📣 Open PhD and postdoc positions in my Living, Fluid, & Soft Matter group. These new researchers will work in my ERC StG project SWARM. Application deadline 3.8.2025. See links and details in the comments below.
June 17, 2025 at 3:54 PM
📣 Open PhD and postdoc positions in my Living, Fluid, & Soft Matter group. These new researchers will work in my ERC StG project SWARM. Application deadline 3.8.2025. See links and details in the comments below.
This is such a cool new paper from the @bhamlalab.bsky.social with a fun discovery of kink instabilities in jumping nematodes. I was also happy to see that my old PhD data on C. Elegans bending stiffness was useful.
Using AFM, we discovered their cuticle is stiffer than C. elegans. That extra rigidity stores loads of energy in their body curvature when they bend into a shape that looks like the letter α, turning their bodies into tiny but mighty springs.
April 25, 2025 at 11:45 AM
This is such a cool new paper from the @bhamlalab.bsky.social with a fun discovery of kink instabilities in jumping nematodes. I was also happy to see that my old PhD data on C. Elegans bending stiffness was useful.
"Taken together, we can conclude that women — already dramatically underrepresented at the highest levels of physics — are further underrepresented in last authorship in prestigious journals."
Excellent effort by Prof. Alannah Hallas.
Excellent effort by Prof. Alannah Hallas.
Today is an important day for us as a journal. We publish a Comment that analysis the gender of last authors of Nature Physics papers over the last decade ($):
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Many thanks to Alannah Hallas for taking the time to collect the data and write the piece.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Many thanks to Alannah Hallas for taking the time to collect the data and write the piece.
Underrepresentation of women last authors in Nature Physics - Nature Physics
Last-author papers are vital to the career advancement of researchers in many physics subfields. We present data on the underrepresentation of women as last authors in Nature Physics and discuss the i...
www.nature.com
April 14, 2025 at 12:43 PM
"Taken together, we can conclude that women — already dramatically underrepresented at the highest levels of physics — are further underrepresented in last authorship in prestigious journals."
Excellent effort by Prof. Alannah Hallas.
Excellent effort by Prof. Alannah Hallas.
I really needed this. I will print this, have it on my desk, and re-read it a few times a year.
A long read from 2017 but well worth the time for any scientist who both loves their job and and often finds themselves questioning their life decisions. www.danielnettle.org.uk/wp-content/u...
www.danielnettle.org.uk
December 10, 2024 at 2:42 PM
I really needed this. I will print this, have it on my desk, and re-read it a few times a year.
Okay, here comes a newish PI question... We're soon submitting the first paper from my group (🥳). Should we upload it on arXiv? Any reasons not to? Something to be careful about? I've been really old-fashioned with this, but with the growing peer-review times, it might be time for change.
November 23, 2024 at 1:01 PM
Okay, here comes a newish PI question... We're soon submitting the first paper from my group (🥳). Should we upload it on arXiv? Any reasons not to? Something to be careful about? I've been really old-fashioned with this, but with the growing peer-review times, it might be time for change.
To introduce myself to this new community, I will share some of my previous research projects. In my postdoc with @robinras.bsky.social, I developed the micropipette force sensor to measure the tiny friction of water droplets moving on extremely slippery superhydrophobic surfaces. Details below.
November 19, 2024 at 9:52 AM
To introduce myself to this new community, I will share some of my previous research projects. In my postdoc with @robinras.bsky.social, I developed the micropipette force sensor to measure the tiny friction of water droplets moving on extremely slippery superhydrophobic surfaces. Details below.
I'm reading the wonderful book Beautiful Experiments by @philipcball.bsky.social: "Experiments are at the core of science. It is typically by experimentation that scientific discoveries are made."
I couldn't agree more. Long live curiosity-driven experimentation with counterintuitive discoveries.
I couldn't agree more. Long live curiosity-driven experimentation with counterintuitive discoveries.
November 18, 2024 at 11:53 AM
I'm reading the wonderful book Beautiful Experiments by @philipcball.bsky.social: "Experiments are at the core of science. It is typically by experimentation that scientific discoveries are made."
I couldn't agree more. Long live curiosity-driven experimentation with counterintuitive discoveries.
I couldn't agree more. Long live curiosity-driven experimentation with counterintuitive discoveries.
My Department of Applied Physics at Aalto University has opened two new Tenure Track positions in the field of Computational Physics, one of which is for the key area in soft materials: www.aalto.fi/en/open-posi...
Assistant Professors, Computational Physics | Aalto University
www.aalto.fi
November 12, 2024 at 1:22 PM
My Department of Applied Physics at Aalto University has opened two new Tenure Track positions in the field of Computational Physics, one of which is for the key area in soft materials: www.aalto.fi/en/open-posi...
My current research keywords: soft matter physics, biomechanics, micro/meso-swimming, plant physics, capillary phenomena, force sensing, fluid dynamics, experimental physics
November 12, 2024 at 1:19 PM
My current research keywords: soft matter physics, biomechanics, micro/meso-swimming, plant physics, capillary phenomena, force sensing, fluid dynamics, experimental physics
Help! What should I read next? Nothing too heavy, scary, or sad (life has given enough of that). What book blew you away or caught your full attention?
January 10, 2024 at 6:51 PM
Help! What should I read next? Nothing too heavy, scary, or sad (life has given enough of that). What book blew you away or caught your full attention?