Soft Matter is publishing a themed issue on Polyelectrolytes in Soft Matter and Biology next year. The Guest Editors of the issue are Professor Michael Rubinstein (University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, USA) and Professor Garegin Papoian (University of Maryland, USA).
Many important synthetic and biological macromolecules, such as DNA, are polyelectrolytes. Both intra- and intermolecular electrostatic interactions, mediated by mobile ions and water, play crucial role in these systems, influencing the molecule’s structure, physical properties and function. Given the importance and ubiquity of polyelectrolytes both in synthetic and biological systems, a growing number of experimental and theoretical investigations address various aspects of their physical properties. Since research on polyelectrolytes is interdisciplinary, at the interface of polymer and biological physics, a themed issue on this topic will bring into a single venue works of researchers from many fields of science, providing a snapshot of the current state-of-the-art in the field. An example of unifying open problems in polymer physics is complexation of oppositely charged polyelectrolytes encountered in macromolecular self-assembly into micelles mediated by electrostatic forces, DNA and RNA packing in viral capsids, as well as is in DNA compaction into chromatin fiber.
The deadline for the receipt of manuscripts for this themed issue is 15 March 2012.
Interested in submitting an article? Contact the Editorial Office today by e-mailing softmatter-rsc@rsc.org.
