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

• Project Document

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

• Project Document

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

• Project Document

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

• Project Description

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

• Unraveling Atomic Positions in an Oxide Spinel with Two Jahn−Teller Ions: Local Structure Investigation of CuMn2O4
• Intrinsic exchange bias in ZnxMn3-x O4 solid solutions