I’m a biophysicist working as a post-doc at Empa St. Gallen studying bacterial self-organization at complex surfaces. My passion for active matter began at the University of Illinois where I did my PhD in physics in the Juarez Group. There, I investigated how bacterial colonization changes the shape of oil droplets in marine environments. These phenomena have profound implications for the cleanup of oil spills.

Now, I am studying the 3D development of bacterial colonies, and how the orientational order of the bacteria influences the formation of dangerous biofilms. In the long-term, my goal is to inform the development of new antimicrobial strategies, and to better understand how fundamental interactions between living particles underlie their macroscopic organization.