alevine.chem.ucla.eduAlex J. Levine Group

People Research Interest Talks Publications Teaching Collaborators / Useful Links The Levine Group We study a variety of problems in the field of soft condensed matter and biophysics. Frequently, our research involves the application of continuum mechanics and hydrodynamics to biomaterials ranging in length scale from single proteins to biopolymer networks spanning tens of microns. We are also studying some aspects of the statistical mechanics of neuronal networks, phase transitions in colloidal crystals, and even laser trapping of colloidal particles with more complex shapes. We benefit from collaborations with a number of experimentalists, working closely with Michael Dennin (UCI), Gabriel Popescu (UIUC), Tony Dinsmore (UMASS), Jeff Urbach (Georgetown), Christoph Schmidt (Göttingen) Giovanni Zocchi (UCLA), Tom Mason (UCLA), Jack Feldman (UCLA), Robijn Bruinsma (UCLA), and Fred MacKintosh (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam). Please see their webpages to learn more about their exciting work. Contact Information UCLA Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry 607 Charles E. Young Drive, EAST Los Angeles, CA 90095 Alex J. Levine’s Office: Young Hall 3044A Student Offices: Young Hall 3086, Geology 4607 Email: alevine@chem.ucla.edu Phone: 310.794.4436 Fax: 310.206.4038 Last Updated: April 2012 Announcements Congratulations to the new UCLA Center For Biological Physics on its establishment! For more information on the center, please visit its website at: http://cbp.physics.ucla.edu Alexander J. Levine Current Group Members Past Group Members Alex J. Levine Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry & Department of Physics & Astronomy, UCLA. Director, Center for Biological Physics, UCLA. Contact Information Office:Young Hall 3044A Phone: 310.794.4436 Fax:310.206.4038 Email:alevine@chem.ucla.edu Biography Alex Levine completed his Ph.D. in physics at UCLA in 1996 after receiving undergraduate degrees in mathematics and physics. Following postdocs at Exxon Research & Engineering, UPENN, and UCSB, he joined the physics department of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst as an assistant professor. In 2005 he returned to UCLA where he is now a professor of Physics & Astronomy, Chemistry & Biochemistry, and the director of the Center for Biological Physics. His main research interests involve statistical physics, mechanics of disordered elastic systems, and the dynamical phase behavior of interacting neurons. His principal work in biological physics involves the mechanics of the cytoskeleton, hydrodynamics and transport in membranes, and theoretical neuroscience. Here is a copy of Alex’s most recent CV (Updated April 2012) . Academic Timeline 1996 Ph.D., UCLA 1996-1998 Postdoctoral researcher, Exxon Research 1998-2001 Postdoctoral researcher, University of Pennsylvania 2001-2002 Postdoctoral researcher, UCSB 2002-2005 Assistant Professor, UMASS 2005-2008 Assistant Professor, UCLA 2008-2011 Associate Professor, UCLA 2011- present Professor, UCLA. Rachael V. Harper Graduate Student-UCLA Physical Chemistry Office: Geology 4607 Email: rvharper@chem.ucla.edu Christian Vaca Graduate Student-UCLA Physics & Astronomy Office: Geology 4607 Email: cvaca35@chem.ucla.edu Jon Landy Graduate Student-UCLA Physics & Astronomy CV Office: PAB 2-735 Email: landy@physics.ucla.edu Mo Bai Graduate Student-UCLA Mechanical Engineering CV Office: Engr IV 37-112 Email: gatormo@gmail.com Yuanxi Wang Undergraduate Researcher Office: Young Hall 3087 Email: yuanxi.wang@gmail.com Brianca King High School Researcher Crenshaw Gifted Magnet High School Office: Young Hall 3087 Brandon Reyes High School Researcher Crenshaw Gifted Magnet High School Office: Young Hall 3087 Don Blair Graduate Student Department of Physics 1126 Lederle Graduate Research Tower University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA 01003-9337 Email: dwblair@physics.umass.edu Robert Brewster Postdoctoral Scholar CV California Institute of Technology MC 128-95 1200 California Blvd. Pasadena CA 91125 Email: Brewster@caltech.edu Buddhapriya Chakrabarti Assistant Professor in Mathematics CV Department of Mathematics Durham University South Rd DURHAM DH1 3LE United Kingdom Email: buddhapriya.chakrabarti@durham.ac.uk Moumita Das Postdoctoral Scholar CV Division of Physics and Astronomy Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam De Boelelaan 1081 1081 HV Amsterdam The Netherlands Email: mdas@few.vu.nl Brian A. DiDonna Scientific Programmer CV Stellar Science 6565 Americas Parkway NE Suite 275 Albuquerque, NM 87110 Email: brian.didonna@gmail.com David Head Postdoctoral Researcher CV Institut für Festkörperforschung (IFF) 52425 Jülich Germany Email: d.head@fz-juelich.de Mark L. Henle Postdoctoral Scholar CV Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Pierce Hall 29 Oxford St. Cambridge, MA 02138 Email: henle@seas.harvard.edu Tatiana Kuribova Postdoctoral Scholar Department of Physics 390 UCB University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0390 Email: Tatiana.Kuriabova@colorado.edu Jeremy Schmit Postdoctoral Scholar CV Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry University of California, San Francisco 600 16th St., Box 2240 San Francisco, CA 94158-2517 Email: schmit@mrl.ucsb.edu David Schwab Postdoctoral Scholar Department of Physics Princeton University Jadwin Hall Princeton, NJ 08544 Email: dschwab@princeton.edu Andrew Missel Postdoctoral Scholar CV Email: missel@ucla.edu Semiflexible Network Mechanics The mechanical properties of semiflexible polymer networks, such as are commonly found in the cytoskeleton, differ from those of more traditional synthetic polymer gels in that the thermal persistence length of the filaments in the cytoskeleton is over an order of magnitude larger than the mean distance between cross-links. While one can think of a flexible gel as cross-linked cooked spaghetti, these cytoskeletal networks are more like bamboo networks or random rattan furniture! We are interested in the relationship of the local network structure and the mechanical properties of the constituent filaments to collective mechanical properties of the network at longer length scales. More recently, we have been studying the role of endogenous molecular motors in the control of the network mechanics. This research, much of which is done with our theoretical collaborator, Fred MacKintosh, is motivated by the remarkable experiments of Christoph Schmidt’s group wherein they use the activity of molecular motors to induce hundred-fold increases in the elastic moduli of an F-actin biopolymer network. Here we also work closely with Michael Dennin’s group; they build thin F-actin gels associated with a Langmuir monolayer. This system, which is a highly simplified toy model of the the physiological cytoskeleton associated with one leaflet of the lipid bilayer of a cell, allows for precise chemical control and imaging of the network while controlled stresses can be applied. By studying this experimental system, we plan to better understand the stress-strain relation of equilibrium semiflexible networks (in particular the affine/non-affine cross-over) and to explore the action of molecular motors on the network. Membrane Dynamics Three dimensional hydrodynamics in the inertia-free limit (applying at sufficient low flow velocities and small enough length scales) is a scale-free theory. The hydrodynamics of membranes, however, admits an inherent length scale set by the ratio of the viscosity of the two-dimensional membrane fluid to the viscosity of surrounding three-dimensional fluid in which the membrane is embedded. One can think of this inherent length scale as setting the distance over which membrane momentum is dissipated into the third dimension. We have examined a number of problems exploring how this additional length scale effects the drag on extended particles and how membrane curvature (introducing yet another length into the problem) affects membrane hydrodynamics. Currently, we are also interested in studying the dynamics of real proteins in membranes and...