Project Details
Projekt
FOR 877: From Local Constraints to Macroscopic Transport
Subject Area
Physics
Biology
Chemistry
Biology
Chemistry
Term
from 2007 to 2015
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 34815210
The Saxon Research Unit studies elementary transport processes in materials with complex topology and energetic structure. For example diffusion in porous structures or in biological membranes is studied, where the limits of a stable equilibrium are not, or not yet completely known from current static observation methods.
The scientists in this Saxon Research Unit come from a background in experimental and theoretical physics. They hope to be able to find - within their cooperative research - new information about transport mechanisms at the nanometer scale. These could create the fundamentals for the development of completely new nano- and biotechnological applications.
The results of the research could help realise the vision of a chemical nanofactory, that is, a factory that synthesises new materials from elementary chemical building blocks. The scientists expect to profit from new information about the aforementioned transport mechanisms on nanometer scale, in that the new information could lead to the possibility of establishing efficient transport processes - small "nano conveyor belts" - inside the nanofactories. These transport processes are also of fundamental importance to understanding the functioning - or disfunctioning - of living cells; proteins and other messenger molecules are transported inside and between cells through various differing mechanisms. Experiments on diffusion in biological membranes therefore are expected to lead to new insights into the development of diseases like Alzheimer's.
The merging of scientists from the three Saxon universities is unique. It fuses for the first time the expertise in Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz. The work of the Research Unit is supported by the graduate school "BuildMoNa", Leipzig, which has recently been established in the context of a national initiative of excellence. The scientific focus of the graduate school on building functional units from molecules and nanostructures is closely related to the theme of the Saxon Research Unit.
The scientists in this Saxon Research Unit come from a background in experimental and theoretical physics. They hope to be able to find - within their cooperative research - new information about transport mechanisms at the nanometer scale. These could create the fundamentals for the development of completely new nano- and biotechnological applications.
The results of the research could help realise the vision of a chemical nanofactory, that is, a factory that synthesises new materials from elementary chemical building blocks. The scientists expect to profit from new information about the aforementioned transport mechanisms on nanometer scale, in that the new information could lead to the possibility of establishing efficient transport processes - small "nano conveyor belts" - inside the nanofactories. These transport processes are also of fundamental importance to understanding the functioning - or disfunctioning - of living cells; proteins and other messenger molecules are transported inside and between cells through various differing mechanisms. Experiments on diffusion in biological membranes therefore are expected to lead to new insights into the development of diseases like Alzheimer's.
The merging of scientists from the three Saxon universities is unique. It fuses for the first time the expertise in Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz. The work of the Research Unit is supported by the graduate school "BuildMoNa", Leipzig, which has recently been established in the context of a national initiative of excellence. The scientific focus of the graduate school on building functional units from molecules and nanostructures is closely related to the theme of the Saxon Research Unit.
DFG Programme
Research Units
Projects
- Diffusion and conformational dynamics in locally perturbed model membrane systems (Applicant Petrov, Eugene )
- Driven diffusion in nanoscaled materials (Applicants von Borczyskowski, Christian ; Radons, Günter ; Valiullin, Rustem )
- Electric field driven motion of single polyelectrolyte grafted colloids (Applicant Kremer, Friedrich )
- Generation of Directed Motion: How Random Steps in Cytoskeletal Systems can lead to Processive Movement (Applicants Diez, Stefan ; Käs, Josef Alfons )
- Hot Brownian Motion (Applicants Cichos, Frank ; Kroy, Klaus )
- Koordination der Forschungsgruppe 877 (Applicant Cichos, Frank )
- Koordination der Forschungsgruppe 877 (Applicant Cichos, Frank )
- Particle Dynamics in Nano-Structured Channels (Applicant Kärger, Jörg )
- Polymer Conformations and Diffusive Transport in Disordered Environments (Applicants Janke, Wolfhard ; Kroy, Klaus )
- Single Particle and Polymer Tracking in Two-Dimensional Energy Landscapes (Applicant Käs, Josef Alfons )
- Static and dynamic properties of DNA-based polymer structures under constraints and confinement (Applicants Cichos, Frank ; Mertig, Michael ; Seidel, Ralf )
Spokesperson
Professor Dr. Frank Cichos
Deputy
Professor Dr. Michael Mertig
