Robert Wickham

Photo of Robert Wickham

Associate Professor College of Engineering and Physical Sciences Department of Physics Guelph, Ontario rwickham@uoguelph.ca Office: (519) 824-4120 ext. 53704

Bio/Research

Dr. Wickham's interests lie in theoretical soft materials physics. His current research focuses on two fundamental aspects of polymeric materials: 1) the formation of nanostructures in polymeric and biological materials via self-assembly, and 2) the interplay between these structures and the dyna...

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Bio/Research

Dr. Wickham's interests lie in theoretical soft materials physics. His current research focuses on two fundamental aspects of polymeric materials: 1) the formation of nanostructures in polymeric and biological materials via self-assembly, and 2) the interplay between these structures and the dynamical evolution of the polymeric material. Self-assembled macromolecular aggregates find applications as, for example, nanolithographic templates, paints, adhesives and drug delivery vehicles, and also form important structural elements in cells. To tackle the challenge of modelling these complex many-body systems, Wickham's group uses a combination of sophisticated analytical theory and high-performance computation.

Some current areas of interest to Wickham include:
- Influence of confinement on the self-assembly of nanostructures in block copolymers
- Kinetics of order-order transitions in block copolymers
- Development of accurate field theories for polymer dynamics
- Modelling the mechanical response of peptidoglycan networks in bacteria
- Modelling the structure of aggregates of pore-forming, antimicrobial peptides, and developing theories of peptide-cell membrane interactions


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