DNA Micromechanics

Professor Bernard D. Coleman
Department of Mechanics and Materials Science
Rutgers University
Piscataway, NH   08854-8058

Date: Friday, April 27, 2001
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Place: W128 Nebraska Hall

Sponsored by the Dept. of Engineering Mechanics through a grant provided by Professor Emeritus C. Wayne Martin


This talk is intended to be an introduction to and a brief survey of the rapidly evolving field of DNA elasticity. Two subjects will be emphasized:

(i) The theory of supercoiled equilibrium configurations of DNA molecules modeled as impenetrable, materially homogeneous, axially symmetric, elastic rods. It will be shown that in that theory one can obtain exact analytical representations of configurations and analyze their stability, even for cases in which self contact occurs.

(ii) A new theory of DNA elasticity that takes into account the dependence of deformability and intrinsic curvature on the nucleic acid sequence of the genetic code.