Projektbeschreibung
Kollektives Verhalten von Wirkstoffen mit Licht prüfen
Aktive Materie umfasst Systeme, deren Grundbestandteile Energie abstrahlen, um Kräfte aufeinander auszuüben. Von molekularen Motoren bis hin zu Bakterienkolonien, Fischschwärmen und Menschenmengen – Wirkstoffe sind in der Natur auf allen Ebenen zu finden. Solche Systeme befinden sich von Natur aus außerhalb des thermischen Gleichgewichts. Intern erregte Stoffe entsprechen eher der aktiven Materie als solche, die durch äußere Kräfte erregt werden, aber es besteht noch keine Möglichkeit, ihre Reaktion auf äußere Reize zu testen. Das über die Marie-Skłodowska-Curie-Maßnahmen finanzierte Projekt PhotoActive zielt darauf ab, makroskopische selbstangetriebene Arzneimittel zu entwickeln, die intern erregt, aber durch einen externen Stimulus angetrieben werden. Die dahinter steckende Idee lautet, Hexbug-ähnliche Partikel zu entwerfen und einzusetzen, deren Energiequelle eine Photovoltaikzelle ist.
Ziel
In the last years, there has been an outstanding growing interest in active matter. In these complex systems, a number of interacting agents consume and convert energy into mechanical motion, representing nice examples of out-of-equilibrium behavior. Such systems are important because they can be found in nature ranging from the microscopic to the macroscopic scale, e.g. molecular motors, cells, bird flocks, or human crowds. Interestingly, and despite the obvious differences among the agents that compose these systems, common behavioral patterns have been identified such as collective motion, anomalous diffusion, segregation, or clogging in the flow through constrictions. Aiming for a better understanding of these complex active systems a reductionist strategy is necessary, and this is why the study of active granular matter (very simple self-propelled agents that interact uniquely by contacts) is widely acknowledged.
Within active grains, we can distinguish between internally excited ones (such as Hexbugs) or externally forced ones. Certainly, the former have the advantage to closely resemble real active matter but, to date, also have the drawback of not allowing testing their response to external stimulus. My proposal, PhotoActive, aims to fill this gap by designing novel macroscopic self-propelled agents that are internally excited but can be driven by an external stimulus as it occurs with all natural systems. The idea is to develop and implement Hexbug-like particles whose source of energy comes from a photovoltaic cell. The great advantage of these novel agents concerns the versatility that provides using a fully controllable illumination panel with which we can impose spatial intensity gradients or temporally evolving patterns. In this way, and applying an interdisciplinary approach involving experiments, numerical modeling, and simulations, we ambition boosting the existing understanding of active matter systems.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
Programm/Programme
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Aufforderung zur Vorschlagseinreichung
Andere Projekte für diesen Aufruf anzeigenFinanzierungsplan
HORIZON-AG-UN - HORIZON Unit GrantKoordinator
31080 Pamplona
Spanien