Falko Schmidt

If you are interested in what I have to say about academia and my take on it, give it a read. 👇
#academicsky

Don’t forget to signup for this weeks unique opportunity to hear about quantum computing and optical trapping. Register below 👇

Curious how quantum computing connects to single-atom optical trapping?
Join our @optica.org BT Technical Group webinar with Prof. Simon Cornish (Durham Univ.):
Assembly of Ultracold Polar Molecules in Optical Tweezers
🗓️ 22 Jan 2026, 12–13 EST
🔗 www.optica.org/events/webin...

🧪🔦

A light-actuated microfluidic playground - Nature Photonics Structured light and photothermal conversion are used to create reconfigurable thermal barriers in a microfluidic device. These virtual barriers can be used to dynamically control fluid flow and micro...

A beautiful news article by Jonathan Ericson & Moran Bercovici on latest optofluidic technology including ours.

Give it a read!

#optofluidics #microfluidics 🧪💡⚛️

Three-dimensional optofluidic control using reconfigurable thermal barriers - Nature Photonics A fluidic system with spatially reconfigurable hot spots generated by optical pumping of plasmonic nanorods is demonstrated, creating virtual barriers by generating local heating via photothermal conv...

Finally uploaded with the issue and page numbers. Who hasn’t seen it yet, promise you there some hot stuff to be seen 🔥

#optofluidics #microfluidics

Dark forces are preventing us fighting the climate crisis – by taking knowledge hostage | George Monbiot The fundamental problem is this: that most of the means of communication are owned or influenced by the very rich, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot

„It didn’t happen by accident. It’s the product of a deliberate and systematic assault on knowledge by some of the richest people on Earth. Preventing climate breakdown means protecting ourselves from the storm of lies.“
@georgemonbiot.bsky.social #denialism #epistemic

Harald Lesch hat zu 100% recht! "Technologieoffenheit ist häufig ein Ausdruck für technologische Ahnungslosigkeit" und "Die Wärmepumpe ist die beste Maschine, die die Physik anzubieten hat, da gibt es keine Alternative"

Endlich rechnet mal jemand mit diesem Bullshit-Argument der Union ab.

Congrats to Kelly for her beautiful Janus image in that was among the first 3 in the scientific image contest cfaed.tu-dresden.de/media-commun...

Conservationist Jane Goodall, whose work revolutionized the study of primates, has died | CNN Jane Goodall, whose lifelong work as a primatologist helped broaden the world’s understanding of animal behavior and emotions, has died, her institute said Wednesday. She was 91.

Sad to hear that Jane Goodell, a pioneering primatologist, has died. She was one of the first to study primates in their natural habitat, live with them and truly trying to understand their connection to us humans.

To me she has been a great source of inspiration. We truly lost a great person!

🧪

Was a pleasure having you!

Where do you see the advantage compared to microfluidics, which can manipulate more cells at faster rates?

Journeys in Optics: Falko Schmidt Falko Schmidt discusses his career trajectory, cofounding a startup and sustainability in the lab.

Great to see my interview on Optics&Photonics News got published now

You can learn more about my own career choices, how I navigated academic and industrial environments and how a changing mindset opened up new opportunities for me.

Thanks Rachel for sharing my story! @optica-opn.org

#ECR
🧪💡

Science content on Bluesky attracts more engagement and originality than on X New social media site is proving better for sharing research findings

With social media site Bluesky growing in popularity among academics, a new study has revealed how it measures up against X when it comes to sharing and promoting scientific research.

The EU surrendered to Trump over trade tariffs – now it’s in danger of capitulating again | Thierry Breton A fresh US assault is aimed at Europe’s right to regulate tech. It’s an outrage – and we must resist it, says former European commissioner Thierry Breton

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We have extended our deadline. There are still some spots available!

We highly encourage Bachelor, Master and PhDs to join. We left plenty of space for informal discussion between sessions, have several poster sessions and a dedicated career night!

Register today! Link below

#optofluidix2025

▪️Nicole N. Hashemi (Iowa State U): On-Chip Characterization of Microorganisms 🦠 Using Hydrodynamic
Focusing & Integrated Optics

▪️Pavan Kumar (Indian Institute of Science Education & Research): Hot Brownian Dynamics 🔥 in 2D Optical Traps

▪️Gerhard Gompper (FZ Jülich): Swimming 🏊‍♂️ & Swarming of Intelligent Active Particles

▪️Francesca Bragheri (I Photonics & Nanotech): Optofluidic Platforms for Super-Resolution Microscopy 🔬

Day 2:

▪️Lynn Paterson (Heriot-Watt U): Optical Manipulation💡 & Sensing of Cells & Particles in Ultrafast Laser Inscribed µfluidics

▪️Tetsuro Tsuji (Kyoto U): Connection Between Thermo-Osmosis and Thermophoresis 🔥

▪️Raúl A. Rica (U Granada): Heat Generation in Optical Tweezers 🪤

▪️Holger Stark (TU Berlin): Designing and
Controlling Active Flow 🌀by Activity Patterns

▪️Christina Kurzthaler (MPI PCS): Swimming 🏊 in Complex Environments ⛰️

▪️Jaime Ortega Arroyo (ETH): Sensing 📡 in pl Volumes

▪️Mikael Käll (Chalmers): Directional Marangoni
Flows 🌀Induced by Laser Heating of Gold

We have a phenomenal line up of experts to share their latest research!

Day 1:
▪️Lailai Zhu (NU Singapore): Intelligent µfluidics 🌀& µbots 🤖 via Machine Learning

▪️Petra Paiè (Politecnico Milano): Bridging µfluidics 🌀 & microscopy 🔬

▪️Giovanni Volpe (U Gothenburg): Deep Learning for Soft
Matter 🦠

⏳ Last chance! Submit your abstract for our #conference OptoFluidiX 2025 (Sept 16–18, Leipzig) by Aug 14. Join top researchers + career session for young scientists. Details 👇

Topic: #Optofluidics, uniting #optics 💡, #microfluidics 🌀& #nanotech 🤖 for breakthroughs in #lifesciences. 🧪

Hope 2cu!

In case you missed my latest paper coming out, have a look 👀

Thanks to my wonderful collaborators @rquidant.bsky.social, Carlos, Emilio, Raul, Marc and Jaime for this successful project, sponsored by a PostDoctoral Fellowship of @snsf.ch within the lab @quidantsnsl.bsky.social

🚀 Our light-powered, reconfigurable #microfluidics opens the door to multifunctional, adaptive devices, which are ideal for lab-on-chip chemical synthesis, diagnostics, cell and analyte handling. These feedback-tuned thermal landscapes could transform compact experimental workflows. #optothermal

🎯📏 Arrays sort particles by size similar to a microscopic version of a Galton board 🎲 using only light & heat 🌞💧. Larger ones deflect differently than smaller ones, enabling precise, programmable sorting with no pumps or any moving parts.

💡🎛️ Projected patterns via a spatial light modulator form barriers that steer ↩️, split ✂️, merge ➕, or trap 🌀 particles. Designs switch in <100 ms ⚡ enabling real-time reconfiguration for complex microfluidic tasks.

Brief summary: 🔬✨ Using structured light, we created 3D thermal barriers 🌡️💧 in microchannels without requiring any walls! Barriers reshape flow & move particles 🎯 on-demand, enabling fast, contact-free control for lab-on-chip systems.

Three-dimensional optofluidic control using reconfigurable thermal barriers - Nature Photonics A fluidic system with spatially reconfigurable hot spots generated by optical pumping of plasmonic nanorods is demonstrated, creating virtual barriers by generating local heating via photothermal conv...

It's out & hot 🔥 Not only because it just went online but since we show that engineered heat patterns are super effective in manipulating fluid flows & particles.
If you work in microfluidics, or need reconfigurable environments in your experiments, give it a read!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
🧪💡

Can robots in a swarm act like the cells of an organism? Thanks to Sedeer El-Showk for the new article in @nature.com, which highlights the work of a number of research groups, including our own, on how “Robots demonstrate principles of collective intelligence”. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Dr. Falko Schmidt - Online Webinar of Falko Schmidt at BPPB Seminar Falko Schmidt is sharing a novel optofluidic toolbox for the precise manipulation of local fluid flows and particle movement with the BPPB community. It's a ...

You can now see my recorded presentation of our recent work on reconfigurable #Optofluidics on my website.

It will give you a brief overview of how you can leverage heat 🔥 to let particle ☄️follow predefined paths in #microfluidics 🚿

activematter.research.st/posts/4106-o...

🧪💡⚛️