Speaker: Assistant Professor Alex Klotz
Affiliation: California State University
Abstract
The biological world is the source of many materials with exotic or desirable properties. Among these, DNA molecules have served as a model system to study the physics of polymers on the single-molecule level. A kinetoplast is an exotic form of DNA, found in certain tropical parasites, that consists of thousands of circular molecules topologically linked together like a sheet of chainmail armor. I will discuss the motivation and path that lead me to study kinetoplast DNA, some recent and ongoing experimental results, and what we can learn about the physics of two-dimensional materials and mechanically-interlocked chemical bonds from studying these DNA structures.
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Venue
Room: 222
