Aatish Kumar

Van 't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences
University of Amsterdam
Science Park 904
1098 XH Amsterdam

room: C2.228
phone: (+31) 20 525 7019
A.Kumaruva.nl

Research Project

Multiscale modeling of hybrid networks of telechelic polypeptides

The general aim of the Bio-Related Materials (BRM) Industrial Partnership Programme (IPP) of FOM (Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie) is to understand and control, between the molecular and the macroscale, the three-way relation between microstructure, local dynamics and properties/performance of bio (-related) materials.
In scale-jumping from the molecular scale upward, a few typical length scales (and correspon­ding time scales) can be distinguished in such materials that are important for their special properties:
  1. The scale of complex molecules, their interactions and intramolecular organisations.
  2. The scale of organisation into discrete supramolecular aggregates.
  3. The continuum-mesoscale with local heterogeneity.
My research project aims to understand the multiscale static and dynamic physics of hydrogels and hydromicrogels based on biomimetic protein polymers, in terms of molecular detail. The materials are made of amino acid sequences based on suitable amino acid motifs and consist of three functional parts: a connector (C) and two different stickers (SA, SB ) in the order SA-C-SB.
The connector C is a water soluble sequence that does not respond to physicochemical triggers like T, pH or additives, and assumes a random coil structure in water under all conditions. The sticker SA and SB sequences self-assemble upon appropriate changes in conditions. The project aim is to investigate in detail the properties (structure, stability, relaxation time) of self-assembled protein sequences and their networks using suitable multi-level simulation approaches.