2023 Open House Poster Presentation Abstracts
***Vote for your Favorite Poster Here***
Charles Ahn Group
Kidae Shin, 6th Year Graduate Student
kidae.shin@yale.edu
Molecular Beam Epitaxy-grown Transition Metal Oxides for Rare Earth Ion Qubits
Rare earth ions (REIs) in solids are attractive for quantum information processing due to long coherence time and scalability. To identify suitable host crystals for Er3+ ions and demonstrate REI qubits in thin films, we grow Er-doped anatase TiO2 using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) and characterize them with x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and optical measurements.
Joerg Bewersdorf Group
Sylvi Stoller, 2nd Year Graduate Student
sylvi.stoller@yale.edu
Quantitative characterization of transient adapters for DNA-PAINT microscopy
Super-resolution microscopy is a cutting-edge technique that overcomes the diffraction limit of light and allows for spatial resolution down to the single-digit nanometer range. DNA-PAINT is a single-molecule localization based super-resolution technique which provides significant advantages such as spectrally unlimited multiplexing, high spatial resolution, and quantitative analysis. Using speed sequences or fluorogenic imaging probes drastically reduces image acquisition time, but only a few such specialized sequences have been successfully designed, ultimately hindering multiplexing capabilities. We developed transient adapters to enable spectrally unlimited multiplexing with these specialized probes. For the benefits of this approach to be realizable, it is essential that the transiently binding adapter strands do not mitigate imaging efficiency. Through experiments on DNA origami, we characterize the kinetic properties of the adapter sequences for a wide range of concentrations and demonstrate that association rate can be tuned into a similar range compared to the classical DNA-PAINT.
Helen Caines / John Harris Group
Ananya Rai, 3rd Year Graduate Student
ananya.rai@yale.edu
Colliding protons and heavy ions to study the perfect superfluid
The Relativistic Heavy Ion Group (RHIG) at Yale studies proton-proton and heavy ion collisions at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN and Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Lab to probe the strong nuclear force. While colliding protons allows us to probe Quantum Chromodynamic (QCD), the underlying theory of the strong force, colliding heavy ions takes us one step further by testing this theory in matter.
Heavy ion collisions (such as Pb-Pb) that occur at 99.9% the speed of light give rise to a hot, dense state of nuclear matter called the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP). The QGP behaves like a strongly correlated fluid of quarks and gluons and additionally, is the most perfect superfluid to ever exist! Investigating its properties requires the convergence of many sub fields within physics such as statistical mechanics, quantum hydrodynamics and quantum field theory.
The RHIG group studies QCD both in vacuum and in matter to probe the many unanswered questions about the strong nuclear force. Studying both collision systems (p-p and Pb-Pb), allows us to compare QCD in vacuum to QCD in matter. Furthermore, conducting experiments at RHIC and the LHC gives access to a wide range of energies for exploring collider physics.
Members of the group investigate a wide variety of questions by using quantum hydrodynamic observables, jet physics, and machine learning. Some topics of current interest include hadronization mechanisms, energy loss in the QGP, jet quenching mechanisms, jet substructure in p-p and Pb-Pb, and strangeness enhancement in the QGP etc.
Damon Clark Group
Caitlin Gish, 3rd Year Graduate Student
caitlin.gish@yale.edu
Directly comparing fly and mouse visual systems reveals algorithmic similarities for motion detection
Evolution has equipped vertebrates and invertebrates with neural circuits that selectively encode visual motion. In both flies and mice, early visual circuits separately detect the movement of light and dark edges. Strong parallels have been noted between the two systems in their anatomy, circuitry, and the suite of computations that they perform. However, because their direction-selective cells have different morphologies and employ different neurotransmitters and receptors, the similarities between them exist not at the molecular level, but at the algorithmic level. While similarities in the computations performed by these circuits in mouse and fruit fly have been noted, direct experimental comparisons have been lacking. Mouse retinal physiologists and fly visual neuroscientists use largely non-overlapping sets of visual stimuli, making direct comparisons between the systems difficult. Here, we have directly compared motion encoding in these two species at the algorithmic level, using matched stimuli and focusing on a pair of analogous neurons: the mouse ON-starburst amacrine cell (ON-SAC) and Drosophila T4. Our analysis shows that the cells have similarly shaped spatiotemporal receptive fields, respond sensitively to fast spatiotemporal correlations, and are similarly tuned to sinusoidal drifting gratings, but they differ in their response to apparent motion stimuli. Interestingly, both neuron types show a response to summed sinusoids that deviates from models for motion processing in these cells, underscoring the similarities in their processing and identifying response features that remain unexplained. Flies and mice diverged many hundred million years ago, implying these similarities are likely the result of convergent evolution. This suggests strong selective pressure on motion detection to employ what may be a limited number of solutions within the anatomical and biophysical constraints of nervous systems and statistical properties of natural visual input.
Giovanna Guerrero-Medina / Anton Bennett Group
Charles Lomba, 3rd Year Graduate Student
charles.lomba@yale.edu
Yale SACNAS
The SACNAS Chapter at Yale (YSACNAS) was founded in 2017 to foster a community among scientists at Yale as well as to promote the SACNAS mission by providing resources to underrepresented students in STEM at every educational level.SACNAS is an inclusive organization dedicated to fostering the success of URM BIPOC groups, Chicanos/Hispanics, Native Americans, African Americans, women, gender minorities, and allies from college students to professionals, in attaining advanced degrees, careers, and positions of leadership in STEM. The national and chapter vision is to promote true diversity in STEM. True diversity means that the field (including leadership positions) reflects the demographics of the population. Our members have the opportunity to train as leaders by spearheading, attending, and collaborating in events throughout the academic year. Our events fall into 3 branches: Academic and Professional Development, Scientific Outreach, and Social and Community Building. Check out our social medias (@ysacnas) and website (ysacnas.wixsite.com/ysacnas) to find out more!
Jack Harris Group
Chitres Guria, 4th Year Graduate Student
chitres.guria@yale.edu
Measuring the Knot of Non-Hermitian Degeneracies and Non-Commuting Braids in an Optomechanical System
When the dynamical matrix (or “Hamiltonian”) of N coupled harmonic oscillators is parametrically tuned around a closed path (i.e., control loop), its eigenvalue spectrum returns to itself. In Hermitian systems, the individual eigenvalues return trivially to their original value. In non-Hermitian systems, however, the eigenvalues may return in a topologically non-trivial manner, depending on the relation of the control loop with the degeneracies (called exceptional points or EPs) of the system. So far, such systems are well understood when N = 2 where the control space is 2D and the degeneracy (EP2) is an isolated point in this space: the eigenvalues swap when the control loop encloses the EP2 point. In our work, we extend the theoretical understanding and show that control loops generically realize eigenvalue braids. These braids form the braid group B_N, and the non-Abelian character of B_N (for N > 2) reflects the non-trivial topology of the EPs within the control space. We experimentally demonstrate these features for N = 3. Our system is a silicon nitride membrane in the middle of an optical cavity, where three drumhead modes of the membrane are coupled through an optical mode. Using the dynamical back-action effect, we parametrically tune the system in the neighborhood of a triple degeneracy (EP3). We find that the set of EP2 points in this neighborhood form a trefoil knot, and that control loops enclosing the trefoil knot indeed realize eigenvalue braids which generate the braid group B_3 [1].
References:
[1] Measuring the knot of degeneracies and the eigenvalue braids near a third-order exceptional point – Y. S. S. Patil et al. Nature 607(7918):271-275 (2022).
Akshai Jayakumar Pillai, 3rd Year Applied Physics Graduate Student
akshai.jayakumarpillai@yale.edu
Cavity Optomechanics in Solid Helium and Solid Neon
Cavity optomechanical systems have been used to realize highly sensitive metrological devices and are also proposed as a tool for studying questions in fundamental physics [1,2]. We have previously demonstrated an optomechanical system using an optical fiber cavity filled with superfluid He [3,4], in which an optical mode (wavelength = 1550 nm) couples to an acoustic mode of the superfluid with precisely half the wavelength. This acoustic mode has a resonance frequency of 320 MHz, and so is cooled to a mean phonon number ~ 1 in a conventional dilution refrigerator. Here we look at the feasibility of using solid He and Ne crystals as the medium in such cavities, as their greater sound velocity will result in 1550 nm light coupling to acoustic modes at 600 MHz and 1.4 GHz respectively. As the crystals are acoustically anisotropic, we use the Christoffel equation and finite element simulations to find the acoustic eigenmodes of the cavity. The spatial profiles of these eigenmodes depend on the angle between the crystal axis with the cavity axis. We find that for a range of crystal orientations, there exist eigenmodes whose spatial profiles closely resemble a Gaussian. These acoustic eigenmodes are predicted to have a high degree of overlap with the optical Gaussian mode, and thus are good candidates to realize a large optomechanical coupling. References 1. Sbarra, Samantha, et al. “Multimode optomechanical weighting of a single nanoparticle.” Nano Letters 22.2 (2022): 710-715. 2. Carney, Daniel, et al. “Mechanical quantum sensing in the search for dark matter.” Quantum Science and Technology 6.2 (2021): 024002. 3. Kashkanova, A. D., et al. “Superfluid brillouin optomechanics.” Nature Physics 13.1 (2017): 74-79. 4. Patil, Yogesh SS, et al. “Measuring High-Order Phonon Correlations in an Optomechanical Resonator.” Physical Review Letters 128.18 (2022): 183601.
Yiqi Wang, 6th Year Applied Physics Graduate Student
yiqi.wang@yale.edu
Manipulating and measuring the state of a mechanical resonator in the quantum regime
Macroscopic mechanical devices in the quantum regime can play a key role in quantum communication, quantum sensing and fundamental tests of quantum mechanics. We use a fiber cavity filled with superfluid 4He of mass ~ 1 ng as our mechanical resonator. Leveraging single photon counting techniques, we manipulate and probe the motional state of a superfluid 4He resonator. The arrival times of Stokes and anti-Stokes photons are used to measure the resonator’s phonon coherences. We demonstrate the coherences of a thermal state near the motional ground state, a non-classical photon-phonon squeezed state, and a high amplitude coherent state in this superfluid 4He resonator. These measurements pave the avenue of realizing a non-classical state in a microgram resonator in future experiments.
Karsten Heeger Group
Samantha Pagan, 4th Year Graduate Student
samantha.pagan@yale.edu
CUPID: a next-generation neutrinoless double beta decay experiment
The CUORE Upgrade with Particle Identification (CUPID) is a next-generation tonne scale neutrinoless double beta decay experiment that will be able to probe the inverted neutrino mass ordering region, test lepton number violation, and test the Majorana nature of neutrinos. CUPID’s scientific program will be built upon the experience from previous experiments CUORE, CUPID-Mo, and CUPID-0, supported by the detailed background model studies from those experiments. CUPID will consist of 1500 Li2MoO4 scintillating bolometric detector crystals amounting to a mass of 250 kg of 100-Mo, the isotope of interest. We will present the latest developments towards the construction of the experiment and the projected performance in terms of energy resolution and background rejection.
Talia Weiss, 3rd Year Graduate Student
talia.weiss@yale.edu
Neutrino Mass Limit from Cyclotron Radiation Spectroscopy
The neutrino mass scale plays a crucial role in both particle physics and cosmology, yet this scale is unknown. The neutrino masses distort the tritium beta-decay spectrum due to energy conservation. By measuring the tritium spectrum, KATRIN has placed the most precise model-independent limit on the neutrino mass scale, to date (mβ<0.8 eV). Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES), a technique pioneered by Project 8, has the potential to advance beyond KATRIN’s design sensitivity. CRES relates a charged particle’s energy to the detected frequency of cyclotron radiation emitted as the particle spirals in a magnetic field.
This poster displays Project 8’s recent analysis to obtain the first neutrino mass limit with CRES. We measure mβ<155 eV (90% credibility) with a cm3-scale detection volume. No background events were observed in a wide signal-free region, establishing CRES as a low-background technique. For this analysis, we characterized systematics using data from Kr-83m conversion electrons and CRES event simulations. These results demonstrate the promise of CRES for a next-generation neutrino mass experiment.
Ben Machta Group
Isabella Graf, Postdoctoral Fellow
isabella.graf@yale.edu
A bifurcation amplifies and integrates a noisy signal from many molecular thermoreceptors
In various biological systems information from many individually noisy molecular receptors must be integrated into a collective response. A striking example is the thermal imaging organ, the so-called pit organ, that pit vipers use to detect small prey at 1m distance. This ability requires the snakes to detect temperature changes in the pit organ as small as 1mK, 1000 times more sensitive than the underlying ion channels, whose opening probability rises by less than 0.1% for a 1mK temperature change. Here, we propose a mechanism for the integration of this noisy molecular channel information into an amplified neural response, encoded by the frequency of action potentials. In our model, the channels are embedded into the electrical dynamics of the neural membrane. Using tools from Statistical Physics, Stochastic Processes, and Nonlinear Dynamics, we argue that due to the channels’ intrinsic voltage sensitivity, these dynamics contain a bifurcation separating a monostable regime, with regular firing of action potentials, from a bistable regime, with rare and stochastic action potentials. Near the transition, the action potential frequency has a sharp dependence on temperature, naturally accounting for the 1000-fold increase in sensitivity from single channels to neuronal firing. Furthermore, near the bifurcation most of the information about temperature available in the channels’ kinetics is preserved at the level of action potentials and can be easily read out even if the timing of the action potentials cannot be determined perfectly. We quantify this “information fidelity” by computing a Fisher information rate, which is maximal at the bifurcation. While tuning to such bifurcation points typically requires fine-tuning of parameters, we propose that having feedback act from the order parameter (action potential frequency) onto the control parameter (single channel opening probability) robustly maintains the system in the vicinity of the bifurcation.
Reina Maruyama Group
Sophia Hollick, 3rd Year Graduate Student
sophia.hollick@yale.edu
Replicating DAMA/LIBRA’s Annual Modulation Search for Dark Matter WIMPs
The COSINE-100 collaboration recently released a study suggesting possible cause of the annual modulation from an analysis method adopted by the DAMA/LIBRA experiment in which the observed modulating signal could be attributed to a slowly varying time-dependent background. The DAMA/LIBRA collaboration’s claim for a dark matter signal has been debated over the last two decades. However, despite many collaborations’ attempts to reproduce DAMA’s results, no definitive evidence has been observed. COSINE-100’s model-independent, annual modulation search adopting the analysis procedure as close as possible to the DAMA/LIBRA method with COSINE-100 data finds a strong modulation, but with opposite phase. Here, I will summarize the results of this study and possible scenarios that suggest causes for DAMA’s signal phase.
Simon Mochrie Group
Tianyu Yuan, 4th Year Graduate Student
tianyu.yuan@yale.edu
The effect of loops on the mean-squared displacement of Rouse-model chromatin
Many researchers have been encouraged to describe the dynamics of chromosomal loci in chromatin using the classical Rouse model of polymer dynamics by the agreement between the measured mean-squared displacement (MSD) versus time of fluorescently-labelled loci and the Rouse-model predictions. However, the discovery of intermediate-scale chromatin organization, known as topologically associating domains (TADs), together with the proposed explanation of TADs in terms of chromatin loops and loop extrusion, is at odds with the classical Rouse model, which does not contain loops. Accordingly, we introduce an extended Rouse model that incorporates chromatin loop configurations from loop-extrusion-factor-model simulations. This extended Rouse model allowed us to investigate the impact of loops and loop extrusion on the dynamics of chromatin. We show that loops significantly suppress the averaged MSD of a chromosomal locus, consistent with recent experiments that track fluorescently-labelled chromatin loci in fission yeast [Bailey et al., bioRxiv (2021)]. We also find that loops slightly reduce the MSD’s stretching exponent from the classical Rouse-model value of 0.5 to a loop-density-dependent value in the 0.4-0.44 range. Remarkably, stretching exponent values in this range have also been reported in recent experiments [Bailey et al., bioRxiv (2021) and Weber et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 238102 (2010)].
David Moore Group
Thomas Penny, Postdoctoral Associate
thomas.penny@yale.edu
Search for new interactions using optically levitated microspheres
Levitated sensors can be used in a wide range of experiments involving sub-attonewton forces. Our groups levitates and controls the motion of silica micro- and nanospheres to reach extreme force and acceleration sensitivities. Our focus is applying these systems to study physics beyond the standard model including searches for millicharged particles bound in matter and composite dark matter particles. Current projects include building an array of levitated microspheres, measuring recoils from single nuclear decays, searching for sterile neutrinos and studying whispering gallery modes in levitated spheres.
Glenn Richardson, 3rd Year Graduate Student
glenn.richardson@yale.edu
An Overview of the nEXO Experiment
nEXO is a proposed tonne scale liquid xenon (LXe) detector that aims to detect neutrinoless double beta decay in 136Xe. If this decay is observed, it would constitute proof that neutrinos are Majorana fermions and that a decay exists in which matter is produced without antimatter. nEXO’s detector will measure both ionization electrons and scintillation photons from interactions that occur in the LXe. These signals will allow for the reconstruction of the energy and position of each event. To this end, an understanding of the impurities present in the LXe is paramont. The Yale Purity Monitor is an ongoing project that aims to determine the source and nature of impurities introduced into nEXO’s TPC and their effect on the lifetime of electrons drifting through the detector. By studying these effects, the Yale Purity monitor will allow us to reach a 5-10 ms electron lifetime and to accomplish nEXO’s energy resolution goal of <1%.
Michael Murrell Group
Zachary Sun, 4th Year Graduate Student
zachary.sun@yale.edu
F-actin architecture determines constraints on myosin thick filament motion
Active stresses are generated and transmitted throughout diverse F-actin architectures within the cell cytoskeleton, and drive essential behaviors of the cell, from cell division to migration. However, while the impact of F-actin architecture on the transmission of stress is well studied, the role of architecture on the ab initio generation of stresses remains less understood. Here, we assemble F-actin networks in vitro, whose architectures are varied from branched to bundled through F-actin nucleation via Arp2/3 and the formin mDia1. Within these architectures, we track the motions of embedded myosin thick filaments and connect them to the extent of F-actin network deformation. While mDia1-nucleated networks facilitate the accumulation of stress and drive contractility through enhanced actomyosin sliding, branched networks prevent stress accumulation through the inhibited processivity of thick filaments. The reduction in processivity is due to a decrease in translational and rotational motions constrained by the local density and geometry of F-actin.
Daisuke Nagai Group
Naomi Gluck, 2nd Year Graduate Student
naomi.gluck@yale.edu
An Observationally Driven Multifield Approach for Probing the Circum-Galactic Medium with Neural Networks
We apply a convolutional neural network to perform an inference analysis for 6 selected properties, or parameters, of the circum-galactic medium (CGM), including Mhalo, fcgm, log(T), Mcgm, fcool, and log(Z). The network both trains and tests based on parameter values from the CAMELS (Cosmology and Astrophysics with MachinE Learning Simulations) version of the hydrodynamic simulation, IllustrisTNG, with a dual-field focus with HI and Soft X-Ray. Note that X-Ray and HI are tested both as individual fields, and then together as a “multifield”. This combination of fields is chosen due to its close relation to the observable hot and cold gas, within individual galaxies, groups, and clusters. The results of this study show that Soft X-Ray is not a robust enough probe to extend to lower masses. Therefore, we must employ the “multifield” approach as a solution, and use HI as the secondary field in conjunction with X-Ray for improved results and inferencing power. We hope to extend this analysis to additional simulations, like SIMBA and Astrid, for cross-simulation inferencing analysis.
David Poland Group
Matthew Mitchell, 3rd Year Graduate Student
matthew.mitchell@yale.edu
High energy theory at Yale
Members of the high energy theory group at Yale are engaged in many exciting research programs which make contact with particle, condensed matter, and gravitational physics. Here, we highlight the research of some of the graduate students in the group. We discuss energy correlators and their applications to particle phenomenology. We also discuss light ray operators, which are often studied formally as objects in a conformal field theory, but can also be interpreted as the theoretical description of detectors within a collider experiment. Also within the realm of conformal field theories, we discuss the conformal bootstrap, a program to derive CFT observables from symmetry and self-consistency constraints.
Shruti Puri Group
Pei-Kai Tsai, 2nd Year Applied Physics Graduate Student
pei-kai.tsai@yale.edu
Preparing the XY Surface Code with High Threshold under Biased Noise
Tailoring quantum surface codes by local Clifford deformation can increase their thresholds under biased noise. A specific example is the XY-surface code, which reduces to a repetition code under pure dephasing noise and achieves code capacity threshold of 50%. However, it is crucial to analyze the performance of the code during logical operations such as state preparation. In the standard approach, a logical X (or Y) state is prepared by initializing each physical qubit in the |+> (or |+i>) state, followed by measuring all stabilizers. However, this technique breaks the underlying symmetry of the XY code under pure dephasing noise, which limits the logical state preparation threshold. In this work, we propose a new logical initialization protocol which maintains the effectiveness of the XY code against dephasing noise. In this protocol, physical qubits are first locally entangled into two- or four-body Bell states, following which all the stabilizers are measured. We prove that in this procedure dephasing errors can be decoded as a repetition code, which guarantees a 50% state preparation threshold. Our analysis is supported by numerical simulations, which also show an overall improvement in threshold when dephasing errors is accompanied by small amount of bit-flip noise.
Kaavya Sahay, 2nd Year Applied Physics Graduate Student
kaavya.sahay@yale.edu
High-threshold fault-tolerance in measurement-based error correction with tailored fusion circuits
We introduce fault-tolerant (FT) architectures for error correction with the XZZX cluster state based on performing measurements of two-qubit Pauli operators ZZ and XX, or fusions, on a collection of few-body entangled resource states. Our construction is tailored to be effective against noise that predominantly causes faulty XX measurements during fusions. This feature offers practical advantage in linear optical quantum computing with dual-rail photonic qubits, where failed fusions only erase XX measurement outcomes. By applying our construction to this platform, we find a record FT threshold to fusion failures >25% in the experimentally relevant regime of non-zero loss rate per photon, considerably simplifying hardware requirements.
Robert Schoelkopf Group
James Teoh, 6th Year Graduate Student
james.teoh@yale.edu
Robust quantum communication with lossy microwave links
We realize a new scheme for entangling two superconducting qubits in separate modules whilst mitigating the effects of energy loss in the link that connects them. When we switch on parametric coupling between each module and a single standing mode in the link, we can treat the link mode as a ‘dump mode’ and use interference between the two couplings to generate entanglement. We use this to herald Bell states in the coherent state basis with 93% state fidelity and 35% success probability. This is possible even though the link loss rate is 4x faster than our coupling rate, demonstrating our scheme’s utility even in the presence of substantial link loss. Finally, we use this Bell state as a resource to deterministically teleport a qubit from one module to another with 90% transfer fidelity. Our work shows standing wave mode communication channels are a useful and still largely unexplored paradigm for near-term modular devices.
Aniket Maiti, 5th Year Graduate Student
aniket.maiti@yale.edu
Swapping quantum information between superconducting microwave modes
You might have heard the (well-hyped) story of quantum computing before - guess what, the most popular platform to do it on (superconducting circuits) was invented here at Yale! These circuits are macroscopic objects that display quantum behavior at extremely cold temperatures (1/100th of a Kelvin!), essentially by trapping and manipulating light at microwave frequencies. While in general these circuits might have been linear and boring, we can introduce non-linearity in a controlled manner through Josephson junctions. Here I’ll show how we utilize such a junction-based ‘coupler’ to make two microwave linear oscillators talk to each other in a highly coherent manner - a significant step in bosonic quantum computing.
Alison Sweeney Group
Charles Lomba, 3rd Year Graduate Student
charles.lomba@yale.edu
Imaging Methods for Polysaccharide Material Network Structure
Polysaccharide biopolymers in the extracellular space form ubiquitous, diverse biomaterials such as wood, superhydrophobic structures in insects, and food gels like carrageenan. These systems can tune a broad range of physicochemical parameters such as monomer type, branching topology, rigidity, cross-link density, and interaction energy. We do not understand how these parameters contribute to the observed equilibrated or arrested nonequiliberium materials. To develop a picture of biopolysaccharide materials using the lens of polymer physics, we are using unicellular and multicellular red algae as a model system. We show results from light microscopy, cryo-EM, and NMR to study the polygalactose carrageenan polymers which can take on many material forms, from sparse gels, to optically resonant nematic liquid crystals, to mechanically complex solids. We aim to link polymer biophysics in these organisms to material properties across length scales from the atomic to the organismal. Our approach illuminates the branching topology over nano to microscopic length scales of biological carrageenan that we reconcile with the macroscopic properties of the network and physiology of the organism. With this comprehensive characterization, we begin to see knobs that biological systems can tune in their biopolymers to modify the collective behavior of it. Understanding how biology tunes its polymers creates a framework for the material development of polymers.