Blog, News & Announcements
Short peptides, long polymers & charge regulation 🧪
[14.03.2024] The last chapter of my master thesis has been finally published as a paper in JACS Au. We employ coarse-grained simulations combined with NMR spectroscopy and potentiometric titrations to measure the dissociation response of lysine oligopeptides in solutions at different pH values, and how does the charging affect the association of peptides with oppositely charged polymers. Ultimately, we show that charge regulation can play an important role in the processes of biomolecular condensation.
Ion sequestration by polyelectrolyte complexes 🫧
[18.01.2024] It was Saskia Lindhoud and Peter Košovan, in 2019, who opened up the doors to the world of polyelectrolyte complexes for me. Ever since, complex coacervates grew to be one of the main subjects of my interest. After more than four years of peripeties, we finally finished our first joint paper, available in Macromolecules. This work combines thermogravimetry and absorption spectroscopy with molecular simulations to explore partitioning of small ionic solutes in two-phase coacervates systems.
Highlight of our work in Newsletter of International Association of Colloid and Interface Scientists.
Polymers ... but with a twist 🌀
[14.12.2023] Enjoy my artwork, recently submitted to the Research Image Competition of the Vienna Doctoral School in Physics.
The image depicts active ring polymers with motors, introducing extra torque into the contour of the ring, coiling them up in the process. Our paper on these interesting systems with non-trivial rheological response will be published in a couple of months.
Stacked interview about stacks 💪
[25.10.2023] Recently, Jan Smrek gave an interview to Rudolphina Research Magazine, talking about our recent paper from ACS Nano, exploring polyelectrolyte rings in dense solutions. We investigate how the threading and ring interpenetration enable clustering and formation of nanoscopic cylindrical stacks of rings. The above behavior can be steered and controlled by counterion conditions.
Web launched 🚀
[24.10.2023] As the list of my papers grows longer and more incoherent, I decided to launch a website, providing a clearer overview of my research, its motivations and overarching goals. Herein, I will be giving more context to different lines of my research and how do they relate to each other, and also additional materials, open-source codes, teaching materials and more.