Colloquium- Jenny Ross

Jenny Ross, Syracuse University

The physics of biological active matter

Abstract: Biological systems are unique because they are hierarchically assembled from energy-using
subunits, from the nanoscale all the way to the macroscale. This gives biological systems novel
abilities such as self-organized development, self-healing, and memory and learning. We seek to
recapitulate and understand the fundamental mechanisms of these phenomena using reconstituted
systems built from the bottom up. In the Ross Lab, we focus on two different biological systems to
investigate how energy is used for self-organization and self-healing. The first system uses DNA-
origami chassis to create designer active particles driven by urease enzymes. We find that the
enzymes—both free in solution and attached to DNA-origami—drive faster-than-expected
diffusion, providing a basis for nanoscale active matter processes. The second system is an active
cytoskeleton–kinesin motor system that organizes into steady-state patterns. We use laser
ablation to locally destroy the network. This allows us to examine the network’s ability to
remember or forget its initial self-organized pattern

Bio: Ross is an award-winning biophysicist studying the organization of the microtubule cytoskeleton
and microtubule-based enzymes using high-resolution single molecule imaging techniques. She won
the Cottrell Scholars Award from Research Corporation, the Margaret Oakley-Dayhoff Award
from the Biophysical Society, an INSPIRE Award from National Science Foundation, and is a
Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of
Science. She has a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California Santa Barbara, and did
postdoctoral work at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine. In 2020, she became
department chair of Physics at Syracuse University. Ross is an innovative educator as well as
scientist, having created a novel interdisciplinary optics course where students build their own
microscopes. This course has been adapted and taught at several international short courses on
microscopy including Analytical and Quantitative Microscopy (AQLM) at the Marine Biology
Laboratory and the Bangalore Microscopy Course at the National Centre for Biological Science in
Bangalore, India. Ross is also an advocate for women and under-represented groups in Physics,
and her lab is a space where anyone can come to learn problem solving concepts, fundamental
lab skills, and professional development abilities that can serve them throughout their lifetime.

Wednesday, October 21, 2026 @ 1:00pm (CST) in Commons Center 235/ 237

Host: Eva Karasmanis