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Undergraduate Researchers
Audrey Hammack
I've been working with Dr. Pearce since May 2008 on computer simulations to model thermophoresis of polyelectrolytes in microfluidic, temperature-graded channels. The work is generated from interest in experimental studies, in which, DNA, a charge-bearing organic polymer, is placed in a microfluidic channel, in which one side of the channel is hotter than the other side; the degree to which DNA will migrate to either side of the channel differs as certain variables, such as salts in the channel and lengths of DNA, are changed.
Our computer simulation models the channel fluid as a lattice. Each lattice site represents many solvent molecules and carries a statistical distribution of the molecules. All particles are subject to physical forces, such as electrostatics and Brownian motion. As such, molecules can leave and enter a lattice site, and the sites can be "bumped" by DNA or salts, all of which perturb the distribution of solvent molecules. The "output" of the simulation is a matrix of numbers, quantities that describe the distribution of molecules in the simulation; with the help of analysis scripts, these matrices can be interpreted to elucidate quantities such as fluid stress, that indicate how the particles would be moving in experiment.
Currently Dr. Pearce and I are working on an experimental set up of our own. We are in the process of synthesizing a dye-bearing polymer that can be visualized as it migrates in a microfluidic channel. We hope that results from the experiment, as well as the simulation can confirm what we believe to be resonable mechanisms that describe the phenomena of thermophoreisis.
Justin Masias: Shaking Non-Newtonian Fluids
Michael Comer: Membrane Protein Diffusion
Sam McKenzie: Janssen Effect |
