Neutron Scattering for Investigating Biology-Related Systems

Date
2025-09-15, 13:00

NOMATEN HYBRID-SEMINAR

online: https://meet.goto.com/NCBJmeetings/nomaten-seminar
In-person: NOMATEN seminar room (102)

Monday, September 15th  2025 1 PM (CET)

Neutron Scattering for Investigating Biology-Related Systems

Prof. Jarosław (Jarek) Majewski, Ph.D.
Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, US; Visiting Scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM; Affiliated Professor at the University of Warsaw, Poland

 

Abstract:

Neutron scattering techniques offer uniquely powerful, non-perturbative, and isotopically-sensitive means to investigate biological and soft-matter interfaces. In this presentation, Dr. Jarosław Majewski will first introduce the core methodology behind neutron scattering, with emphasis on their ability to probe surface and interfacial structures under diverse environmental conditions – such as variations in pH, temperature, and shear flow. He will then present selected case studies drawn from his recent work on biology-related systems: (i) model lipid membranes, (ii) interactions between lipid membranes and proteins (including toxins), and (iii) monolayers of living cell cultures subjected to mechanical stress. These examples will highlight how surface-scattering methods can reveal structural organization, dynamic responses, and subtle interfacial changes in biologically relevant systems. Through these cases, the talk aims to illustrate the versatility of neutron scattering in characterizing bio-interfaces and their responses to external stimuli, ultimately underscoring their importance as tools in biophysical and soft-matter research.

 

Bio:

Until March, 2025, Dr. Jarosław (Jarek) Majewski was a Permanent Program Director at the National Science Foundation. Currently, he is on a sabbatical leave as an Affiliated Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Warsaw, Poland.

He graduated from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and, until 2017, served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California, Davis. Currently, he is a Research Professor in the Department of Chemical & Biological Engineering at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. 

He published 200+ peer-reviewed papers and gave an app. 200+ invited talks and over 200 other presentations. He is an elected fellow of the American Physical Society and the Neutron Scattering Society of America. 

Part of his scientific career (1995-2019) has been spent at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), where he built a successful x-ray and neutron scattering program to address interfacial structures and properties of materials. His interests span from bio-interfaces and soft-condensed systems to hard-condensed hetero-structures, electrochemistry, and actinides

 

 

 

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This project has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation
programme under grant agreement No 857470 and from European Regional Development Fund
via Foundation for Polish Science International Research Agenda PLUS programme grant
No MAB PLUS/2018/8.
Poland
The project is co-financed from the state budget within the framework of the undertaking of the Minister of Science and Higher Education "Support for the activities of Centers of Excellence established under Horizon 2020".

Grant: 5 143 237,70 EUR
Total value: 29 971 365,00 EUR
Date of signing the funding agreement: December 2023

The purpose of the undertaking is to support entities of the higher education and science system that have received funding from the European Union budget in the competition H2020-WIDESPREAD-2018-2020/WIDESPREAD-01-2018-2019: Teaming Phase 2. in the preparation, implementation and updating of activities, maintenance of material resources necessary for carrying out activities, acquisition and modernization of scientific and research apparatus, maintenance and development of personnel potential necessary for the implementation of activities, and dissemination of the results of scientific activities.