McGill.CA / Science / Department of Physics

CPM Seminar

The Physics of linear, circular and knotted DNA

Giovanni Dietler

Condensed Matter Physics Department
University of Lausanne

First a short introduciton to polymer physics will presented. Then, it will be shown how polymer physics can be applied to DNA. In particular, the determination of the Flory exponent and the persistence length of linear and circular DNA by AFM will be discussed. Subsequently, the recent developments in the study of knots and knotted polymers will be illustrated with examples taken from biology (DNA and actin filaments).

Monday, July 26th 1999, 15:30
Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, room 114