The proposed research focuses on the refinement, validation and application of a novel mesoscale model for biological membranes. Individual lipids are treated as short polymers formed from a chain of beads with unique interaction potentials. The model distinguishes itself from most other lipid models in the literature by capturing the hydrophobic effect implicitly via effective lipid-lipid interactions; there is no need for explicit simulation of solvent. Preliminary studies show that this model behaves in accord with many of the expected properties of lipid bilayers including: fluid behavior of the lipids, realistic magnitudes of elastic moduli (bending and compression), self assembly of the bilayer structure and faithful reproduction of the inhomogeneous distribution of stresses across the bilayer. Although a handful of other solvent-free lipid models are discussed in the literature, none of them capture all of these important physical properties of experimental bilayer systems.
Max Watson
UCSB Student
Frank Brown
UCSB Instructor
Paul Welch
Mentor
Investigation of the critical issue of position and spatial arrangement of chain-end functional groups in dendritic macromolecules for heavy metal remediation and bio-threat neutralization strategies.
Jerred Chute
UCSB Student
Craig Hawker
UCSB Instructor
Paul Welch
Mentor
Kim Rasmussen
Mentor
Protein aggregation – the incorrect folding and subsequent self-assembly of proteins into fibrillar structures – is a serious problem in both biomedical and biotechnological fields1. A number of diseases, known as amyloid diseases (these include Alzheimer’s disease and type II diabetes), are associated with this process. The efficacy of protein therapeutics is often hampered by aggregation occurring during bioprocessing, storage and delivery. In addition, these aggregates are known to enhance immune responses to the monomeric form of the protein, leading to adverse antibody mediated events in treatment with therapeutic proteins products. Developing a strategy to control aggregation requires an understanding of the thermodynamic and kinetics of this polymerization process.
Esther Zhuang
UCSB Student
Joan-Emma Shea
UCSB Instructor
Gnana Gnanakaran
Mentor
The primary goal of this project is to enhance the fundamental understanding of dielectric breakdown phenomena in polymer composites. More specifically, the implications of knowledge about polymer matrix/filler interactions within silicone elastomer composites on dielectric breakdown properties will facilitate the ability to produce improved dielectric elastomer membranes for actuation and sensing purposes through materials design and engineering.
Roger Diebold
UCSB Student
David Clarke
Harvard University Instructor
Ed Kramer
UCSB Instructor
Debra Wrobleski
Mentor
Dali Yang
Mentor
Characterize and model ionic transport in small channel (~10 nm) pores during the application of variable electric fields for the purpose of capacitive energy storage.
Brian Giera
UCSB Student
Todd Squires
UCSB Instructor
Scott Shell
UCSB Instructor
Ed Kober
Mentor
Neil Henson
Mentor
Enable field-theoretic simulations on the Cell architecture, and thereby significantly expand the range of problems and scope of material systems that can be effectively addressed with this simulation methodology.
Kang Chen
UCSB Student
Glenn Fredrickson
UCSB Instructor
Paul Welch
Mentor
Kim Rasmussen
Mentor
Mesoporous Silica Materials for Fuel Cells and Energy Storage Applications
Donghun Kim
UCSB Student
Brad Chmelka
UCSB Instructor
Piotr Zelenay
Mentor
Miguel Jimenez
UCSB Student
Robert McMeeking
UCSB Instructor
Ed Kober
Mentor
Matthew Lewis
Mentor
Establish key functional relationships for polymeric flexible foams between molecular-level properties and their cellular structures than can be linked to macroscopic material properties.
Rob Messinger
UCSB Student
Brad Chmelka
UCSB Instructor
Doug Hemphill
Mentor
A project designed to develop improved understanding and models for bubble (droplet) coalescence for extremely thin separations (e.g. approaching molecular dimensions).
John Frostad
UCSB Student
Gary Leal
UCSB Instructor
Ed Kober
Mentor
Marianne Francois
Mentor
Trevor Marks
UCSB Student
Fred Milstein
UCSB Instructor
Ed Kober
Mentor
Doug Hemphill
Mentor
Study the effect of Natural Organic matter (NOM) on nanoparticle (NP) aggregation and transport in aqueous solution.
Dongxu Zhou
UCSB Student
Arturo Keller
UCSB Instructor
Amr Abdel-Fattah
Mentor
Arthur Scholz
UCSB Student
Ed Kramer
UCSB Instructor
Rex Hjelm
Mentor
Christopher Hammetter
UCSB Student
Robert McMeeking
UCSB Instructor
Frank Zok
UCSB Instructor
Matthew Lewis
Mentor
Develop improved methods for characterizing and analyzing the structures and defect populations in nanocrystals using neutron scattering methods.
Daniel Shoemaker
UCSB Student
Ram Seshadri
UCSB Instructor
Thomas Proffen
Mentor
Anna Llobet
Mentor