Academic interests
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Mathematics, University of Oslo. My research lies at the interface of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, soft matter, and chemical physics. In my postdoctoral work, I study the interplay between biomolecular condensates and wetting phenomena, as well as the self-assembly of membrane structures. During my PhD, I investigated how life can emerge from simple chemical systems far from equilibrium, focusing on the origin of emergent, life-like behavior.
Background
2016-2019: Bachelor in Physics, Astronomy and Meteorology. University of Oslo, Norway.
2019-2021: Master in Physics - Condensed matter. University of Oslo, Norway.
2021-2025: PhD in Theoretical Physics. University of Augsburg, Germany.
2026--: Postdoctoral research. Department of Mathematics, University of Oslo, Norway
Websites
Publications
- Verstraeten, W., et al. (2026). Genetic encoding and mutagenesis of RNA droplet phenotypes.Nature Chemical Engineering, 3, 573–583. DOI: 10.1038/s44286-026-00454-4.
- Aierken, D., et al. (2026). Roadmap for Condensates in Cell Biology.PRX Life, 4, 032501. DOI: 10.1103/3b2k-ftwx.
- Jaiswal, P., Haugerud, I. S., Verstraeten, W., Göpfrich, K., Boekhoven, J., & Weber, C. A. (2026). Physical Mechanism of Vacuole Formation in Liquid Droplets. Preprint, arXiv:2607.25743. View preprint.
- Jaiswal, P., Haugerud, I. S., Vuijk, H. D., & Weber, C. A. (2026). Harvesting chemical power from cyclic environments.Physical Review Research, 8, 023289. DOI: 10.1103/kfmy-lb48.
- Haugerud, I. S., Vuijk, H. D., Boekhoven, J., & Weber, C. A. (2026). Excitability and Oscillations of Active Droplets.Physical Review Letters, 136, 218401. DOI: 10.1103/g9dh-ymx9.
- Haugerud, I. S. (2026). Emergent behavior in non-dilute reacting mixtures away from equilibrium: From oscillations and excitability to selection and replication of sequences. Doctoral thesis, University of Augsburg. URN: urn:nbn:de:bvb:384-opus4-1273936. University repository.
- Haugerud, I. S., Bartolucci, G., Braun, D., & Weber, C. A. (2026). Theory for sequence selection via phase separation and oligomerization.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 123(5), e2422829123. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2422829123.
- Bartolucci, G., Haugerud, I. S., Michaels, T. C. T., & Weber, C. A. (2026). The interplay between biomolecular assembly and phase separation.eLife, 13, RP93003. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.93003.3.
- Kriebisch, C. M. E., et al. (2025). A roadmap toward the synthesis of life.Chem, 11(3), 102399. DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2024.102399.
- Haugerud, I. S., Jaiswal, P., & Weber, C. A. (2024). Nonequilibrium Wet–Dry Cycling Acts as a Catalyst for Chemical Reactions.The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 128(7), 1724–1736. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.3c05824.
- Haugerud, I. S., Linga, G., & Flekkøy, E. G. (2022). Solute dispersion in channels with periodic square boundary roughness.Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 944, A53. DOI: 10.1017/jfm.2022.522.
Haugerud, I. S. (2021). The effects of spatial and temporal oscillations on hydrodynamic dispersion. Master’s thesis, University of Oslo. Associated code repository.