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SUMMARY:An energy landscape study highlights the well engineered thermodyn
 amics of collagen. - Chris Forman (University of Cambridge)
DTSTART:20150122T120000Z
DTEND:20150122T130000Z
UID:TALK57417@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Salvatore Tesoro
DESCRIPTION:Can we design materials to handle energetic throughputs withou
 t disrupting their structure? Biology can.\nIndeed biology makes many comp
 lex materials which can inspire us to design materials with high performan
 ce that will improve our ability to manage the planet. Here I present a st
 udy of collagen using energy landscape techniques. I explain how the resul
 ting model\, with supporting data from NMR studies\, suggest that collagen
  may be able to change conformation without a significant energy penalty. 
  The resulting flexibility in conformation means that the equilibrium conf
 ormation across a particular range of temperatures is dominated by the ent
 ropy of the ring puckering system\, resulting in thermal and mechanical st
 ability. In effect\, our study shows that collagen may be considered as an
  entropic spring and this has consequences in terms of heat dissipation of
  mechanical shocks.  By discussing the thermodynamic properties of collage
 n I highlight how consideration of the molecular details of a material can
  have dramatic effects at the macroscopic levels. In turn\, I briefly disc
 uss how this may help us manage the deep relationship between global energ
 y consumption and the manufacturing and molecular design of materials.
LOCATION:TCM Seminar room\, 530 Mott building
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