Biophysics and Soft Matter (BioSM) Lab11

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Cell-Penetrating Peptides(CPPs) and Drug Delivery
Cell-Penetrating Peptides(CPPs) can deliver pharmalogically active molecules (e.g., proteins, plasmid-DNA, liposomes, and also nanoparticles) into cells, and thus they have great potential as future therapeutics. However, the uptake mechanisms are still debating.

Functional and Mechanical Properties of Biological Soft Matter
In order to understand mechanisms of various biological functions at molecular scales it is crucial to identify functional and mechanical properties of basic structures, such as peptides, DNAs, membranes(bilayer or monolayer), etc.

Light-harvesting: Mechanisms of Energy Transfer
Light-harvesting is one of research areas which studies materials and molecules that capture photons of solar light. This includes studies to better understand the light-harvesting properties of photosynthetic organisms or those of artificial systems that are designed to promote photochemical reactions.

Membrane Proteins Structure and Function
Membrane proteins(e.g, enzymes, receptors, ion channels, transporters, etc.) play crucial roles in all organisms, and they are the major drug targets for pharmaceuticals. Our general goal is to understand functional properties of various membrane proteins and to identify suitable drugs to control their biological functions.

Modeling and Simulations of Self-Assembly of Polymers
The self-assembly of polymers is one of emerging fields within material sciences, offering many potential applications in nanotechnology as well as in nanobiotechnology. It is necessary to investigate the energy landscape between the self-assembled polymers, and to explore the fate of these polymers and how the final morphology can be obtained.

Molecular Dynamics Studies of Polyelectrolyte-Polyampholyte Complexes
Polyelectrolytes(PEs) are polymers carrying either positively or negatively charged ionizable groups while polyampholytes(PAs) are charged polymers with both positively and negatively charged groups. The adsorption of PEs and PAs onto charged chains and surfaces has been extensively studied for a long time because of its importance in biology, materials science, soft matter research, etc.

Path Sampling of Rare Events
Path sampling approaches can enhance the efficiency of simulating rare events, e.g, protein folding, protein (un)binding, cellular signaling, etc. Weighted Ensemble (WE) method has been known for one of powerful and flexible path sampling techniques.

Theoretical Modeling of a Cell Division and the Min System
In E. coli the Min protein system, which consists of Min C, Min D, and Min E proteins, plays an important role in positioning the cell division. We have been working on partial differential equations which describe the Min system.

Advisor Professor : Choe, Seungho
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