Computational Soft Matter Research Group at the department of applied physics of the Aalto University School of Science and Technology (Finland)

Aalto University is a foundation based university. As a merger of three Finnish top universities — Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki School of Economics and University of Art and Design Helsinki — Aalto University combines science and arts into a collaborative environment for both scientific communities and companies.

One of the university’s most interesting areas of research is in the field of soft matter; soft matter refers to systems whose behaviour is governed by interactions of the order of the thermal energy kBT. Such systems include biological matter, colloids, surfactants, and polymers. A characteristic feature of soft matter is the delicate interplay of entropy with various non-covalent interactions. This leads to such interesting phenomena as self-assembly, complex phase behaviour and, most importantly, life.

The Computational Soft Matter group’s research is based on computational modeling of soft matter systems. At present, the focus of their work is in:
1) Environmental and biological effects of nanomaterials, answering the following crucial questions: How are nanomaterials transported into and further within biological organisms? How do nanomaterials affect various biological systems such as cell membranes, DNA, RNA, and proteins? What happens to nanomaterials discharged into the environment, especially natural water sources?
2) Effects of small molecules on lipid membranes, with the aim to understand the effects of such substances in real biological systems.
3) Dielectrophoresis (DEP) of nano- and bioparticles, providing understanding on the changes in the DEP coupling of particles due to their mutual interactions at close proximity, extent of higher-multipole interactions in aggregates of manipulated particles, and importance of hydrodynamic effects in DEP systems.

In order to ground the group’s computer simulations in real world applications, they are actively collaborating with the field’s international leading experimental research groups.

The group has more than 10 senior researches and post-docs working under the leadership of Dr. Emppu Salonen

Some highlights of their recent research include the following publications:
• Effects of carbon nanoparticles on lipid membranes: A molecular simulation perspective. Soft Matter 5 (2009) 4433.
• Experimental and simulation studies of real-time polymerase chain reaction in the presence of a fullerene derivative, Nanotechnology 41 (2009) 415101.
• Real-time translocation of fullerene reveals cell contraction, Small 4 (2008) 1986.

More information:
Dr. Emppu Salonen
Department of Applied Physics
Aalto University School of Science and Technology
Finland