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Cells are fundamental building blocks of living organisms displaying an arrayof shapes, morphologies, and textures that encode specific functions andphysical behaviors. Elucidating the rules of this code remains a challenge. Inthis work, we create biomimetic structural building blocks by coatingellipsoidal droplets of a smectic liquid crystal with a protein-based activecytoskeletal gel, thus obtaining core-shell structures. By exploiting thepatterned texture and anisotropic shape of the smectic core, we were able tomold the complex nematodynamics of the interfacial active material and identifynew time-dependent states where topological defects periodically oscillatebetween rotational and translational regimes. Our nemato-hydrodynamicsimulations of active nematics demonstrate that, beyond topology and activity,the dynamics of the active material are profoundly influenced by the localcurvature and smectic texture of the droplet, as well as by externalhydrodynamic forces.  These results illustrate how the incorporation of these constraints intoactive nematic shells orchestrates remarkable spatio-temporal motifs, offeringcritical new insights into biological processes and providing compellingprospects for designing bio-inspired micro-machines.

Dynamics of active defects on the anisotropic surface of an ellipsoidal droplet