Antonio Stocco
Biography
Antonio Stocco is a research director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), leading experimental research activities in the Physics of Membranes and Soft Matter Team at the Charles Sadron Institute (ICS) in Strasbourg. His work lies at the intersection of physics and physical chemistry of complex systems, encompassing lipid membranes, wetting phenomena, active colloids, nanoparticles, amphiphilic polymers, and surfactants.
He received his PhD in physical chemistry in 2007 from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Germany), followed by a habilitation to supervise research in physics in 2018 (Montpellier, France). Since joining the CNRS in 2011, he has built a career in soft and active matter physics. His research focuses on unravelling the interactions and dynamics characteristic of these systems, with a particular emphasis on understanding the link between single-particle dynamics and out-of-equilibrium interactions.
Since 2018, his research has increasingly centred on lipid membranes, driven by a desire to elucidate the physical principles governing particle endocytosis in biomimetic cells—a process that is critical for vaccine vectorization, drug delivery, and microbial infections. His experimental approach aims to quantify the forces and dynamics at play, distinguishing between active and passive mechanisms in this complex phenomenon.
Antonio Stocco also organizes the Strasbourg Soft Matter Meeting (StraSoft) and actively contributes to initiatives promoting professional equality.
Fellowship 2026
Dates - 01/10/2026-30/09/2028
Project summary
ACTIVE GIANT VESICLES DRIVEN BY HYSTERESIS
Hysteresis refers to the phenomenon where the history of a system influences its present state. For example, a person’s state at 7am is not solely determined by the current moment but also by the preceding hours. In physics, hysteresis occurs when the current state of a particle - or an assembly of particles - depends not only on thermodynamic variables but also on its recent past configurations. In soft, deformable particles, hysteresis can manifest in a variety of geometries (such as spherical, elongated, buckled, or dumbbell shapes) under cyclic perturbations. In the field of active matter, shape hysteresis can even be harnessed to extract work within a cycle, enabling the swimming of deformable microparticles in viscous fluids - akin to the motion of bacteria and algae.
In this project, we aim to experimentally and theoretically investigate soft particles composed of elastic giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) that exhibit hysteresis under cyclic conditions. Our objectives are twofold: (i) to extract work in the form of active motion at the single-vesicle scale, and (ii) to create active materials through vesicle assemblies that exhibit emergent properties driven by collective hysteresis effects. We plan to fabricate diverse GUV systems with lipid membranes that demonstrate viscoelastic responses and spatial asymmetries. Our goal is to control and amplify the cyclic deformations of vesicles undergoing buckling-unbuckling dynamics under external periodic fields, including shear flow, light, and AC electric fields. Vesicle deformations and structures will be observed via optical microscopy, and their dynamics will be quantitatively analysed. We will evaluate the elastic and viscous responses of GUV assemblies and compare these findings with existing models of metafluids mechanics and active solids.
This research will advance our understanding of the mechanics of complex active systems, such as biological tissues, and for the design of artificial materials with tailored active properties.
