Research Interests

I am interested in internal motion in macromolecules. This interest began with my doctoral studies which used NMR spin relaxation to study molecular motion in model biomembranes. Such motions are involved in many of the functional properties of the membranes, such as permeation of small molecules and the interactions of the different membrane components. During my post-doctoral work I began studying the local motions of synthetic polymers in solution, which remains my major interest today. Local mo tions in polymers are as fast as the motions of small molecules, which is interesting given the huge size of polymer molecules. My own work has focused on characterizing the anisotropy of that motion, with the hope of shedding light on the 3-D details of the motion. I spent the 1995-1996 school year at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where I became involved in doing computer simulations of the same dynamic processes I have been studying experimentally. It has been exciting to see how experimental and theoretical tools can complement each other in helping to understand molecular motions.