Complex Adaptive Matter on the Nanometer
to Micron Scale in Biological Physics
Professor Bob Austin
Princeton University
Department of Physics
Princeton, NJ 08544-1014
(609) 258-4343
I work on a wide variety of biological physics issues, ranging from energy transport in proteins on the picosecond time scale to microfabrication for biotechnology. In all the wide array of subjects I study, the conformational dynamics and sometimes the overt non-linearities of the systems I study play an important role. On the picosecond time scale and nanometer length scale I am interested in how highly specific, localized vibrational states of specific groups on a protein become delocalized and transport energy through the protein structure, if indeed this is what happens in energy transduction. On the nanometer length scale and microsecond time scale I am interested in how proteins are able to collapse down from random configurations into the basin of native conformations. On the micron scale and second time scale I am interested in how cell membranes, controlled by a complex array of cytoskeletal control features, are able to initiate sticking and locomotion of white blood cells of the immune system. Biotechnology and microfabrication brings a wealth of materials issues involving complex matter response, from the self-sealing nature of silicone elastomers to ìsmart materialsî which can be used to act as transient gates and switches in lab on a chip devices.