Session LP: Microfluids: Fluidic Devices III

3:35 PM–5:45 PM, Monday, November 22, 2010
Long Beach Convention Center Room: 203A

Chair: Alexander Alexeev, Georgia Institute of Technology

Abstract ID: BAPS.2010.DFD.LP.8

Abstract: LP.00008 : A hybrid molecular dynamics study of the translocation of DNA through entropic traps

5:06 PM–5:19 PM

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Author:

  Petr Hotmar
    (Florida State University)

The interplay between thermal diffusion and electrophoretic migration of $\lambda$-phage DNA in entropic traps was studied using a hybrid molecular dynamics algorithm. The governing systems of field equations are discretized by finite differences on curvilinear overlapping grids with the solvent modeled as a continuum in unsteady creeping flow. Similar to Brownian dynamics, the polymer segments are coarse-grained into a bead-spring model that follows Langevin dynamics. The hydrodynamic interactions are captured on a semi-empirical level with localized force-transfer. We have established the non-monotonic dependence of electrophoretic mobility on chain length, which characterizes the transition from the free flowing to the trapping behavior. We further quantify the subtle effects of dielectrophoresis and induced-charge electroosmosis on the polymer dynamics.

To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2010.DFD.LP.8