Achievement

IGERT Trainee David Boy has developed computational tools for simulating nanofluidic and biomolecular physics. With these new methods, he is able to study the forces on and energies of charged particles in nanofluidic channels. The numerical experiments he has already performed have provided insights into the novel behavior of fluids and molecules at nanometer length scales. The computational tools he and the Gibou group have developed will allow them and their experimental collaborators to design technologies for sorting, detecting, and analyzing nanoparticles and macromolecules, in turn enabling lab-on-a-chip medical diagnostics and new tools for scientific discovery. Currently, he is extending these computational tools to determine the electrostatic interactions of proteins, DNA, and other biomolecules, which are fundamental to problems in biophysics including drug discovery and protein folding.