About Us

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We are interested in understanding and controlling the principles and parameters that drive the self-assembly of polymers and colloids, quantifying the properties that emerge as a result of self-assembly, and ultimately using our knowledge to design improved properties of interest and to gain an understanding of complex biological materials. Example systems we are currently exploring are polymer networks with dual bonds, the liquid-liquid phase separation of intrinsically-disordered proteins and peptides, and the self-assembly of natural marine adhesives.

We are putting together this group in the summer of 2020. Interested in working as an undergraduate or graduate student from September 2020 onwards? Do not hesitate to contact us and we can arrange a meeting!

Undergraduate Students: Contact Emmanouela via e-mail with your CV, grades, and a brief statement of your interests and goals.
Postgraduate Students: Contact Emmanouela via e-mail with your CV, grades, a summary of your research experience, research interests and goals, and pdfs of your publications (if any).

Group Members

Emmanouela Filippidi

Education (view full CV in pdf)

Ph.D. in Physics, May 2014
New York University, New York, NY
Advisor: Prof. David J. Pine
Thesis: Random Organization: Out-of-equilibrium phase transitions in periodically driven suspensions

M.S. in Biomedical Engineering, September 2007
Boston University, Boston, MA
Advisor: Prof. Joyce Y. Wong
Thesis: Controlled biopolymer assembly in microfluidic devices

B.S. in Engineering, June 2005
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
Thesis advisor: Prof. Mehmet Toner
Thesis: Protein preservation in sugar glasses

Research Appointments

05/2019 - 2020
Postdoctoral Fellow, Tony Hyman's Group - Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics
and Frank Julicher's Group - Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems
05/2014-07/2018
Postdoctoral Fellow - Materials Research Laboratory (MRL) and Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
Advisor: Prof. Megan T. Valentine. Collaborators: J. Herbert Waite, Jacob N. Israelachvili
Summer 2010
Graduate student intent, Unilever R&D, Vlaardinger, Netherlands
Summer 2005
Visiting Student, Polymer Group, FORTH, Heraklio, Crete
06/2003-05/2004
Undergraduate researcher in David D. Weitz's group, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Publications

    [2020]

  1. “Tailoring toughness of elastomers by incorporating ionic cross-linking”
    T.R. Cristiani, E. Filippidi, R.L. Behrens, M.T. Valentine, C.D. Eisenbach
    Macromolecules, accepted (2020)

    2. [2017]

  2. “Toughening elastomers using mussel-inspired iron-catechol complexes”
    E. Filippidi*, T.R. Cristiani*, C.D. Eisenbach, J.H. Waite, J.N. Israelachvili, B.K. Ahn, M.T. Valentine
    Science, 358, 502-505 (2017)
    doi:10.1126/science.aao0350

  3. “Influence of multi-cycle loading on the structure and mechanics of marine mussel plaques”
    M.H. Wilhelm, E. Filippidi, J.H. Waite, M.T. Valentine
    Soft Matter (2017)
    doi: 10.1039/c7sm01299c

  4. “Significant Performance Enhancement of Polymer Resins by Bioinspired Dynamic Bonding”
    S. Seo, D.W. Lee, J.S. Ahn, K. Cunha, E. Filippidi, S.W. Ju, E. Shin, B.-S. Kim, Z.A. Levine, R.D. Lins, J.N. Israelachvili, J.H. Waite, M.T. Valentine, J.E. Shea, B.K. Ahn
    Advanced Materials, (2017)
    doi: 10.1002/adma.201703026

    5. [2015]

  5. “The microscopic network structure of mussel (Mytilus) adhesive plaques”
    E. Filippidi, D.G. DeMartini, P. Malo de Molina, E.W. Danner, J.Kim, M.E. Helgeson, J.H. Waite, M.T. Valentine
    Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 12 (2015), 20150827
    doi: 10.1098/rsif.2015.0827

    6. [2014]

  6. “Dynamics of non-Brownian fiber suspensions under periodic shear”
    A. Franceschini, E. Filippidi, E. Guazzelli, D.J. Pine
    Soft Matter, 10 (2014), 6722-6731
    doi:10.1039/C4SM00555D

  7. “All‐Natural Oil‐Filled Microcapsules from Water‐Insoluble Proteins”
    E. Filippidi, A.R. Patel, E. Bouwens, P. Voudouris, K.P. Velikov
    Advanced Functional Materials, 24 (2014), 5962-5968
    doi:10.1002/adfm.201400359

    8. [2011]

  8. “Transverse alignment of fibers in a periodically sheared suspension: an absorbing phase transition with a slowly varying control parameter”
    A. Franceschini, E. Filippidi, E. Guazzelli, D.J. Pine
    Physical review letters, 107 (2011), 250603
    doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.250603

  9. “Tunable silk: using microfluidics to fabricate silk fibers with controllable properties”
    M.E. Kinahan, E. Filippidi, S. Köster, X. Hu, H.M. Evans, T. Pfohl, D.L. Kaplan, J. Wong
    Biomacromolecules, 12 (2011), 1504-1511
    doi:10.1021/bm1014624

    10. [2007]

  10. “Brownian diffusion close to a polymer brush”
    E. Filippidi, V. Michailidou, B. Loppinet, J. Ruhe, G. Fytas
    Langmuir, 23(9) (2007), 5139-5142
    doi:10.1021/la0637162

    11. [2005]

  11. “Glioma expansion in collagen I matrices: analyzing collagen concentration-dependent growth and motility patterns”
    L.J. Kaufman, C.P. Brangwynne, K.E. Kasza, E. Filippidi, V.D. Gordon, T.S. Deisboeck, D.A. Weitz
    Biophysical journal, 89(1) (2005), 635-650
    doi:10.1529/biophysj.105.061994

Group News

Contact Us

Please reach Emmanouela at

filippidi [at] materials.uoc.gr

TBD