Dr. Andrea Giuntoli (RUG) will visit Saskia Lindhoud and give a lecture for the Molecules Centre, titled:
Modeling charged polymers for soft materials design
Abstract
The incorporation of highly charged polymers is leading to the development of new soft materials in fields such as energy transition and biomedicine. Charged interactions in biopolymers are also widely used by nature to guide and control delicate biological processes. Yet, the connection between theoretical modeling and experimental material design is still at its infancy in this area due to the complex phenomena emerging in charged polymer systems from their nanoscale interactions, such as ion transport and complex coacervation.
In this talk I will discuss the opportunities and challenges of molecular dynamics simulations in informing the rational design of new materials in this area, and I will show two recent examples of collaborations with experimental groups on the development of new hydrogels with unique mechanical properties.
Bio
Andrea Giuntoli is an Assistant Professor at the Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials (University of Groningen) since 2021. He obtained his PhD in Physics at the University of Pisa. He did one postdoc at NIST, Maryland, and a second one at Northwestern University, Chicago, within the CHiMaD consortium, part of the Material Genome Initiative sponsored by the US Government. His expertise lies in the multiscale modeling of supramolecular materials, using molecular dynamics simulations to derive structure-property relationships for polymeric materials and composites. His research focuses on connecting the nano- and microscale structure of polymer materials to their macroscopic response. He uses his expertise especially to bridge the gap between molecular models and material design in close collaboration with experimental groups.