ABSTRACT: In recent years we have studied a number of problems related to shape
control of deformable bodies and thin films, motivated by our interest in biological
systems. The aim of this research is to distill lessons useful for the design of bio-inspired
robotic and bio-medical devices. This has required the use of tools from the calculus of
variations and differential geometry, from theoretical and computational mechanics of
solids and fluids, of physical experiments including observations at the microscope in the
case of unicellular swimmers, and manufacturing and testing of prototypes. We will
review some of the instructive lessons that have emerged from this research line, with
special emphasis on unicellular swimmers.

BIO: Antonio DeSimone is professor of Scienza delle Costruzioni (Mechanics of Solids and
Structures) at the BioRobotic Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna (Pisa) and at
SISSA-International School for Advanced Studies (Trieste) within the laboratory for
Applied Mathematics “MathLab” that he founded in 2010. His research interests are on
the mechanics and multi-physics of advanced materials, of soft and biological matter, on
morphing and shape-control, and on mechano-biology (in particular: biological and
bio-inspired motility). On these topics he has published extensively and across
disciplinary boundaries, contributing to specialist journals covering a broad range of
disciplines from mathematics to biophysics to engineering. He is a EUROMECH Fellow
since 2015 and Secretary General of CISM, International Center for Mechanical Sciences,
since 2022.