Polymer physics, simulations and theory. Molecular Dynamics, Monte Carlo simulations and analytical theory.

Leibniz-Institute of Polymer Research Dresden Hohe Strasse 6
Dresden, Germany
url: visit our webpage

Biophysical J, 114(9), 2165–2173 (2018)
Mattia I. Morandi, Mathieu Sommer, Monika Kluzek, Fabrice Thalmann, André P. Schroder, Carlos M. Marques
The properties of lipid bilayers in sucrose solutions have been intensely scrutinized over recent decades because of the importance of sugars in the field of biopreservation. However, a consensus has not yet been formed on the mechanisms […]

Biointerphases 13, 028501 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5022145
M. Werner, T. Auth, P. A. Beales, J. B. Fleury, F. Höök, H. Kress, R. C. Van Lehn, M. Müller, E. P. Petrov, L. Sarkisov, J.-U. Sommer and V. A. Baulin
Synthetic polymers, nanoparticles, and carbon-based materials have great potential in applications including drug delivery, gene transfection, in vitro and in vivo imaging, and […]

Soft matter, 2018, DOI: 10.1039/C7SM02404E,
Ankush Checkervarty, Marco Werner, and Jens Uwe Sommer
We study pore formation in models of lipid-bilayer membranes interacting with amphiphilic copolymers mimicking anti-microbial peptides using Monte Carlo simulations and we rationalize our results by a simple brush-model for the fluid membrane. In our study a weak tension on the membrane is required […]

Soft matter, 2018, DOI: 10.1039/C7SM02404E, Ankush Checkervarty, Marco Werner, and Jens Uwe Sommer. We study pore formation in models of lipid-bilayer membranes interacting with amphiphilic copolymers mimicking anti-microbial peptides using Monte Carlo simulations and we rationalize our results by a simple brush-model for the fluid membrane. In our study a weak tension on the membrane […]

J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 8, 4069–4076 (2017).
Chan-Fei Su, Holger Merlitz, Hauke Rabbel, and Jens-Uwe Sommer
Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, we study the passive translocation of nanoparticles with a size of about 1 nm and with tunable degrees of hydrophobicity through lipid bilayer membranes. We observe a window of translocation with a sharp maximum for nanoparticles […]

ACS Macro Lett., 6, pp 247–251 (2017)
Marco Werner, Jasper Bathmann, Vladimir A. Baulin, and Jens-Uwe Sommer
We propose a theory to predict the passive translocation of flexible polymers through amphiphilic membranes. By using a generic model for the potential felt by a monomer across the membrane we calculate the free energy profile for homopolymers as a function […]

30 September 2016. Management meeting in Salou, Spain
Agenda:
Venue:
Meeting will be held in Hotel Magnolia Salou,
Carrer de Madrid, 8, 43840 Salou, Tarragona
Attending people:

Vladimir Baulin (URV, Spain, coordinator)
Marco Werner (URV, Spain, project manager)
Jens-Uwe Sommer (IPF, Dresden)
 Domenico Lombardo (CNR, Italy)

 Elena Ivanova (Swinburne, Australia)

 Fabrice Thalmann (CNRS, France)

 Marc Schmutz (CNRS, France)

The 4th workshop on biomaterials and their interactions with biological and model membranes was held in Salou (October 19th — 21th). Following up to the previous three workshops in 2011, 2013 and 2014, this meeting mainly focused on the interactions of synthetic polymers, nanoparticles, surfactants, proteins, small biomolecules with biological and model phospholipid membranes. Participants […]

Soft Matter, DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.5b00720 (2015)
Hauke Rabbel, Marco Werner, and Jens-Uwe Sommer

We investigate interactions of linear amphiphilic ABA triblock copolymers with lipid bilayer membranes by means of Monte Carlo simulations in a generic coarse-grained model. The polymers have hydrophilic A-blocks and B-blocks of varying hydrophobicity. The effect of different conformational states of the polymer on the induced […]

22 October 2015. Management meeting in Salou, Spain
Agenda:
Venue:
Meeting will be held in Hotel Magnolia Salou,
Carrer de Madrid, 8, 43840 Salou, Tarragona
Attending people:

Vladimir Baulin (URV, Spain, coordinator)
Marco Werner (URV, Spain, project manager)
Jens-Uwe Sommer (IPF, Dresden)
 Domenico Lombardo (CNR, Italy)

 Elena Ivanova (Swinburne, Australia)

 Fabrice Thalmann (CNRS, France)

Shahram Ghanaati (GUF, Frankfurt)
Ian Tucker (Unilever, UK)
David Mainwaring (Swinburne, Australia)

Lectures on Physics of Graphene, Lipids and Proteins
Dates: 9-10 April 2015
Location: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK

The lectures will be delivered by several invited experts as well as PIs in the training network. The courses will teach basic science and discuss recent advances in 2D materials research exploring their unique properties and […]

Biomacromolecules, (2014) Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/bm501266x

Marco Werner  and Jens-Uwe Sommer
We investigate adsorption and passive translocation of random amphiphilic copolymers interacting with a self-assembled lipid bilayer membrane. By using the bond fluctuation model with explicit solvent, we consider random copolymers under variation of the fraction, H̅, of hydrophobic sites and chain length. Our results indicate a point of […]

Monte Carlo simulations of lipid membranes and their interactions with copolymers

Modelling of interactions between membranes and spherical and aspherical nano-particles

Lenin S. Shagolsem, Jens-Uwe Sommer
Soft Matter, 8, 11328-11335 (2012)
We present a mean field model for a mixture of AB diblock-copolymers and A-block selective nanoparticles confined between two identical non-selective walls. A horizontally symmetric lamellar structure of the nanocomposite is considered where nanoparticles are allowed to segregate between the polymer–wall interfaces. For a fixed value of […]

Sergey Pogodin, Marco Werner, Jens-Uwe Sommer, Vladimir A. Baulin

ACS Nano, DOI: 10.1021/nn3028858 (2012)

Monte Carlo simulations using the bond fluctuation method with explicit solvent reveal the mechanism of enhanced permeability of lipid bilayers induced by the adsorption of nanoparticles with controlled hydrophobicity. Simulation results indicate an adsorption transition of nanoparticles on the bilayer in a […]

Marco Werner, Jens-Uwe Sommer and Vladimir A. Baulin

Soft Matter, 8, 11708-11716 (2012)

Recent experimental studies indicate that polymeric structures with a well-adjusted balance of amphiphilic parts may translocate through self-assembled phospholipid bilayers and enhance the passive trans-membrane transport of smaller molecules. Using a coarse grained lattice Monte Carlo model with explicit solvent we investigate self-assembled lipid […]

Lipid bilayers emerge by self-organization of amphiphilic molecules and are the essential component of membranes of living cells. An important task of them is the selective exchange of substances between the cell and its environment. This becomes particularly interesting for delivering foreign molecules and RNA into the cell. In the classical view of cell biology […]

J.-U. Sommer, M. Werner and V. A. Baulin

Europhysics Letters, 98, 18003 (2012)

Monte Carlo simulations using an explicit solvent model indicate a new pathway for translocation of a polymer chain through a lipid bilayer. We consider a polymer chain composed of repeat units with a given hydrophobicity and a coarse-grained model of a lipid bilayer in […]

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