Adaptive non-equilibrium design of actin-based metamaterials

by Sreekanth Kizhakkumpurath Manikandan (Stanford & Stockholm University)

Monday 11 Sept 2023, 15:45 → 17:45 Europe/Stockholm

Albano 3: 6228 - Mega (22 seats) (Albano Building 3)

zoom link : https://stockholmuniversity.zoom.us/j/622224375

 

 

Abstract : 

The adaptive and surprising emergent properties of biological materials self-assembled in far-from-equilibrium environments serve as an inspiration for efforts to design nanomaterials and their properties. In particular, controlling the conditions of self-assembly can modulate material properties, but there is no systematic understanding of either how to parameterize this control or how controllable a given material can be. Here, we demonstrate that branched actin networks can be encoded with metamaterial properties by dynamically controlling the applied force under which they grow, and that the protocols can be selected using multi-task reinforcement learning. These actin networks have tunable responses over a large dynamic range depending on the chosen external protocol, providing a pathway to encoding “memory” within these structures. Interestingly, we show that encoding memory requires dissipation and the rate of encoding is constrained by the flow of entropy—both physical and information theoretical. Taken together, these results emphasize the utility and necessity of nonequilibrium control for designing self-assembled nanostructures.

 

Reference: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2306.10778.pdf