The Faculty

Focus

Protein Folding, Protein Aggregation, DNA Folding and Hybridization

Biography

A fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as the American Physical Society, de Pablo has also received the 2011 Charles Stine Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

He received his PhD in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BS in chemical engineering from the National University of Mexico. He conducted postdoctoral research in materials science at the Institut für Polymere in Zurich.

Research Summary

Knowing and understanding the thermophysical properties of fluids and solids, respectively, is essential for designing efficient chemical processes and for developing new materials. Our research investigates the thermophysical properties of fluids and solids at a molecular level, and uses molecular-thermodynamic models and statistical-mechanical principles.

Molecular simulations are important to our research. Using advanced methods and powerful computers, we examine molecular motion and probe the microscopic structure of fluids and solids. Based on these studies, we try to explain and predict the macroscopic behavior of these systems. These predictions are then compared to our and our collaborators experimental laboratory data.

Research Topics

Some of the common problem that we work with are:

Selected Papers

Spatiotemporal Formation and Growth Kinetics of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles with Millisecond Resolution
Wu, Hao, Jeffrey M. Ting, Boyuan Yu, Nicholas E. Jackson, Siqi Meng, Juan J. de Pablo, and Matthew V. Tirrell. "Spatiotemporal Formation and Growth Kinetics of Polyelectrolyte Complex Micelles with Millisecond Resolution." ACS Macro Letters 9, no. 11 (2020): 1674-1680.

Hydrodynamic interactions in topologically linked ring polymers
Rauscher, P. M., Rowan, S. J. & De Pablo, J. J. Hydrodynamic interactions in topologically linked ring polymers. Physical Review E 102, (2020).

Shear Thickening and Jamming of Dense Suspensions: The “Roll” of Friction
Shear Thickening and Jamming of Dense Suspensions: The “Roll” of Friction Abhinendra Singh, Christopher Ness, Ryohei Seto, Juan J. de Pablo, and Heinrich M. Jaeger Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 248005 – Published 18 June 2020

Intrinsic Ion Transport Properties of Block Copolymer Electrolytes
Daniel Sharon, Peter Bennington, Moshe Dolejsi, Michael A Webb, Ban Xuan Dong, Juan J de Pablo, Paul F Nealey, Shrayesh N Patel. Intrinsic Ion Transport Properties of Block Copolymer Electrolytes. ACS Nano. 2020, 14, 7, 8902–8914

Dynamics of Poly[n]catenane Melts
Rauscher, Phillip M et al. "Dynamics of Poly[n]catenane Melts." The Journal of Chemical Physics 152, 214901 (2020)

Structure and dynamics of hydrodynamically interacting finite-size Brownian particles in a spherical cavity: Spheres and cylinders
Li, Jiyuan, Xikai Jiang, Abhinendra Singh, Olle G. Heinonen, Juan P. Hernández-Ortiz, and Juan J. de Pablo. "Structure and dynamics of hydrodynamically interacting finite-size Brownian particles in a spherical cavity: Spheres and cylinders." The Journal of Chemical Physics 152, no. 20 (2020): 204109.

Shape induced segregation and anomalous particle transport under spherical confinement
Singh, Abhinendra, Jiyuan Li, Xikai Jiang, Juan P. Hernández-Ortiz, Heinrich M. Jaeger, and Juan J. de Pablo. "Shape induced segregation and anomalous particle transport under spherical confinement." Physics of Fluids 32, no. 5 (2020): 053307.

Thermodynamics and Structure of Poly[n]catenane Melts
Rauscher, P. M., Schweizer, K. S., Rowan, S. J. & De Pablo, J. J. Thermodynamics and Structure of Poly[n]catenane Melts. Macromolecules 53, 3390–3408 (2020).

An in situ shearing x-ray measurement system for exploring structures and dynamics at the solid–liquid interface
Qiao, Yijun, Hua Zhou, Zhang Jiang, Qiming He, Shenglong Gan, Hongdong Wang, Shizhu Wen et al. "An in situ shearing x-ray measurement system for exploring structures and dynamics at the solid–liquid interface." Review of Scientific Instruments 91, no. 1 (2020): 013908. Harvard

Structuring Stress for Active Materials Control
Zhang, Rui, et al. "Structuring Stress for Active Materials Control." arXiv preprint arXiv:1912.01630 (2019).

BPHYS Student

Walter Alvarado