JACS Front Cover Vol 147/Issue 52 Week Commencing 29 Dec 2026

‘Droplets as Cell Models: Chemical Gradient-Induced Directional Filopodia Formation', has made it on the front cover of this week's #JACS!

Explore the research behind the art: buff.ly/s30uUR7

https://pubs.acs.org/toc/jacsat/147/52: Droplets hunting for “chemical treasures”: oil-in-water droplets reshape in response to chemical gradients (from the glowing treasure chest), recapitulating how living cells detect and grow toward or away from environmental cues. By understanding the forces driving this behavior, the authors aim to build synthetic versions of cellular life and gain deeper insight into matter-to-life transitions.

🎉🎉The art I designed is now featured on the Front Cover of @jacs.acspublications.org!🎉🎉
Grateful to my mentor @ayusmansen.bsky.social for encouraging creative ways to illustrate our science.
Check out the article: pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

#ActiveEmulsions #SoftMatter #MatterToLife #ScienceArt

We are on the front cover of the last issue of 2026! Thanks to the artistry of @sanjanakmani.bsky.social
and thank you @pubs.acs.org
Droplets as Cell Models: Chemical Gradient-Induced Directional Filopodia Formation | Journal of the American Chemical Society pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...

Thrilled to receive the Poster Award at Materials Day 2025 organized by PennStateMRI! We explore how interfacial phenomena drive dynamic #emulsions and life-like behavior in soft #materials.
More @ sites.psu.edu/sengroup/ !
Grateful to @ayusmansen.bsky.social @pennstatechemistry.bsky.social

Pattern formation in isothermal miscible protein-sugar systems driven by Marangoni effects and evaporation Communications Physics - Pattern formation in miscible fluid systems is typically driven by reaction-diffusion processes or thermal gradients. This study demonstrates pattern formation in an...

Spiral patterns form by simply dropping protein solutions on to denser sugar solutions, showing reaction-diffusion pattern formation can be replicated by replacing the reaction-induced inhomogeneous solute distribution by evaporation-induced inhomogeneity: rdcu.be/eMUyR

Droplets as Cell Models: Chemical Gradient-Induced Directional Filopodia Formation Cells are complex chemical systems capable of sensing and responding to environmental cues by dynamically reshaping themselves, e.g., by forming arm-like protrusions such as filopodia. Recapitulating cellular behavior in artificial systems is a long-standing goal in understanding the matter-to-life transition and designing responsive soft materials. Here, we use oil-in-water emulsions that mimic cellular environmental sensing and form directional arm-like filopodia in response to external chemical cues. Our work analyzes the step-by-step process involved in the formation of artificial filopodia, and we engineer ways to direct filopodia growth through different chemical gradients. The process is driven by asymmetric surfactant partitioning across the oil–water interface, followed by ordering at the interface to form lamellar structures, which are projected out as filopodia. We observe filopodia growing away from the source of kosmotropic anions and toward the source of chaotropic anions from the Hofmeister series. Significantly, these systems also respond to amino acid gradients, similar to cells: tryptophan gradients favor growth toward the source, while lysine and arginine gradients cause growth away from the amino acid source. Our findings open new avenues for fabricating life-like materials that sense and grow in response to external signals.

Our latest: Like bacteria, oil-in-water emulsions sense specific amino acids, sending out finger-like projections towards or away from the source! Droplets as Cell Models: Chemical Gradient-Induced Directional Filopodia Formation. Great work by @sanjanakmani.bsky.social pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10....

Deeply grateful to my advisor @ayusmansen.bsky.social for his invaluable guidance, and to Dr. Lauren Zarzar, and all the amazing collaborators who made this work possible!
@pennstatechemistry.bsky.social @pennstatescience.bsky.social

Our latest work in @jacs.acspublications.org!
Artificial system that can sense, grow, and adapt—just like cells! Our #droplets form directional filopodia in response to chemical cues- a step toward life-like materials. #SoftMatter #MatterToLife
🔗https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.5c11719

Fellow motorists, follow the roadmap for an exciting journey! Many thanks to Samuel Sanchez and others for their insights:

Non-reciprocal chemotactic movement in enzyme cascade under flow-free conditions Sapre et al. showcase a hydrogel-based microfluidic device that creates chemical gradients under flow-free conditions for studying enzyme-powered chemotaxis. The setup allows long-term observation of ...

We are on our way to designing intelligent communicating systems involving particle populations that carry out different tasks. Non-reciprocal chemotactic movement in enzyme cascade under flow-free conditions: Cell Reports Physical Science www.cell.com/cell-reports...

Thank you, @ayusmansen.bsky.social! I'm so grateful for your support and for encouraging me to explore creative competitions like MVC. It's truly special to have a mentor who values both science and creativity!

"Life of a Droplet: A Non-Equilibrium Drama." Congratulations @sanjanakmani.bsky.social @pennstatechemistry.bsky.social for winning first prize in Visual Appeal at the Penn State Materials Visualization Competition.

Thrilled to have won 1st prize in Visual Appeal for "Life of a Droplet: A Non-Equilibrium Drama" at the Materials Visualization Competition. Grateful to @ayusmansen.bsky.social @pennstatechemistry.bsky.social and PennStateMatSE.
sites.psu.edu/mvcs/17-winn...

#MaterialScience #SciArt