Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series 2026
Life-Like Materials and Artificial Cell Systems
Prof. Andreas Walther
Life-Like Materials and Systems
Department of Chemistry, University of Mainz, Germany
Abstract
Living systems excel at operating far from equilibrium, integrating sensing, processing, and actuation through feedback-regulated signalling networks to adapt and communicate within complex environments. Inspired by these principles, we develop life-like materials and artificial cell systems that embed embodied intelligence into soft matter. We explore hydrogels and metamaterials empowered by chemical reaction networks, enzymatic feedback, and mechanical gating to achieve autonomous decision-making, self-strengthening behaviour, and non-reciprocal motion. In parallel, we design DNA-based artificial cells formed via liquid–liquid phase separation, which host artificial cytoskeletons, display non-Fickian transport, and integrate catalytic and DNAzyme modules to enable metabolism-driven morphological adaptation. These complementary directions converge on a vision of synthetic systems that do not merely respond passively but actively process information, adapt over time, and communicate with their environment. Together, they lay the foundations for programmable materials and minimal artificial cells that approach the complexity and interactive potential of living matter.
Biography
Andreas Walther is a Professor for Macromolecular Materials and Systems at the Department of Chemistry at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz (Germany), as well as a Max Planck Research Fellow at the MPI for Polymer Research. His research interests focus on developing life-like materials and systems that integrate dynamic processes and principles of chemical intelligence inspired from the basic principles of life.
He was appointed to his present position in Mainz in 2020 with the prestigious support of the Gutenberg Research College. Andreas Walther is the recipient of an ERC Starting Grant and of an ERC Consolidator Grant. He was a co-founder of the DFG Cluster of Excellence on "Living, Adaptive and Energy-Autonomous Materials Systems" (livMatS).