October 01, 2018
Dr. Pablo de Vera Gomis from the University of Murcia, Spain joined MBN Research Center as Alexander von Humboldt Fellow starting from October 2018.
During the next two years, Dr. de Vera will work on the exploration of physicochemical processes underlying radiation interaction with biological and inorganic materials. This work continues the successful collaboration of Dr. de Vera with the MBN-RC team which took place over the past years [1-3].
The research project of Dr. de Vera will focus on the theoretical and computational study of the effects induced by different radiation modalities (mainly ion and electron beams) in different materials, especially biomolecular targets. These effects, which can induce damage in materials or modify their properties, are of great relevance for many technological applications, such as ion beam cancer therapy and electron or ion-beam based nanofabrication techniques.
This research project will employ multiscale modeling tools, combining Monte Carlo simulations for radiation transport [4] with a broad range of options available in MBN Explorer. The recently developed methodologies such as Irradiation Driven Molecular Dynamics and the reactive CHARMM force fields will be exploited allowing comprehensive modeling of radiation-induced chemical reactivity and dynamics of the condensed medium.
[1] P. de Vera, R. Garcia-Molina, I. Abril, and A.V. Solov’yov, A semiempirical model for the ion impact ionization of complex biological media, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110 (2013) 148104
[2] P. de Vera, E. Surdutovich, N.J. Mason, and A.V. Solov’yov, Radial doses around energetic ion tracks and the onset of shock waves on the nanoscale, Eur. Phys. J. D 71 (2017) 281
[3] K. Haume, P. de Vera, A. Verkhovtsev, E. Surdutovich, N.J. Mason and A.V. Solov’yov, Transport of secondary electrons through coatings of ion-irradiated metallic nanoparticles, Eur. Phys. J. D 72 (2018) 116
[4] M. Dapor, I. Abril, P. de Vera, and R. Garcia-Molina, Energy deposition around swift proton tracks in polymethylmethacrylate: How much and how far, Phys. Rev. B 96 (2017) 064113