Charged Macromolecules: Assembly, Dynamics, and Transport
CFM Seminars
- Speaker
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Murugappan Muthukumar
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA - When
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2026/09/25
12:00 - Place
- CFM Auditorium
- Host
- Host: Juan Colmenero
- Add to calendar
-
iCal
Control of self-assembled structures of charged macromolecules in aqueous solutions is vital in myriads of natural phenomena. However, a fundamental understanding of the various phenomena exhibited by charged macromolecules is one of the grand challenges in the domains of living matter, biomimicry, and healthcare. The origin of this challenge lies in the simultaneous occurrence of three long-range forces from electrostatics, topology of polymer connectivity, and hydrodynamics. As a result, charged macromolecules exhibit extraordinary behavior unseen in uncharged molecules. We will present basic concepts and address structure, dynamics, and transport in a few systems that include biomolecular condensates, polyzwitterions, and intrinsically disordered proteins.
About the speaker
Murugappan Muthukumar received his Ph.D. in Chemical Physics at the University of Chicago. After his postdoctoral fellowship in the Cavendish Laboratory at the Cambridge University, he joined the faculty of Illinois Institute of Technology for a couple of years, and then moved to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he is currently the Wilmer D. Barrett Distinguished Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering. Muthukumar is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, has received the Dillon Medal and the Polymer Physics Prize of the American Physical Society, ACS Polymer Chemistry Award, Chancellor’s Medal of the University of Massachusetts, and the Gutenberg Lecture Award from the University of Mainz.