[Journal Articles]

Rama Bansil Professor 590 Commonwealth Ave. Boston, MA 02215 US Office: 617-353-2969 Email: rbphysics.bu http://buphy.bu.edu/people/show/38

Biography

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

CURRENT FOCUS:

Rama Bansil’s primary interest is in gels, which are found in numerous products of daily use, have fascinating visco-elastic properties, fundamentally different than solids or liquids. Bansil’s laboratory is devoted to interdisciplinary research ranging from Polymer Physics to Biophysics. Through a variety of experimental methods such as light scattering, small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering, and microscopy complemented by computer simulations of model gels, Bansil’s group has elucidated the structure of gels at the molecular level, the physics of gel formation, diffusion in gels and the kinetics of phase transitions and chemical reactions in gels. Current research projects include the phase behavior of multiblock copolymer gels and their application to develop templates for nanoscale devices. Many living tissues are in the form of gels, which has excited a great deal of interest as a substrate for tissue regeneration. Bansil and her collaborators at Harvard Medical School have focused their attention on understanding the role that gelation of mucin (a glycoprotein found in the mucus layer) plays in preventing the stomach from being digested by the highly acidic gastric juice that it secretes. Their studies using dynamic light scattering and atomic force microscopy have contributed to a detailed mechanism of how mucin molecules gel under acidic conditions.

Journal Articles

9.) J. P. Celli, B. S. Turner, N. H. Afdhal, S. E. Keates, I. C. Ghiran, C. P. Kelly, R. H. Ewoldt, G. H. McKinley, P. So, S. Erramilli, and R. Bansil, "Helicobacter pylori moves through mucus by reducing mucin viscoelasticity," Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Vol. 106, No. 34, 2009, pp. 14321-14326

8.) M. Li, Y. Liu, H. Nie, R. Bansil, and M. Steinhart, "Kinetics of Hexagonal-Body-Centered Cubic Transition in a Triblock Copolymer in a Selective Solvent: Time-Resolved Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Measurements and Model Calculations," Macromolecules, Vol. 40, No. 26, October 2007, pp. 9491-9502

7.) J. P. Celli, B. S. Turner, N. H. Afdhal, R. H. Ewoldt, G. H. McKinley, R. Bansil, and S. Erramilli, "Rheology of gastric mucin exhibits a pH-dependent sol-gel transition," Biomacromolecules, Vol. 8, No. 5, May 2007, pp. 1580-1586

6.) H. Fang, L. Qiu, E. Vitkin, M. M. Zaman, C. Andersson, S. Salahuddin, L. M. Kimerer, P. B. Cipolloni, M. D. Modell, B. S. Turner, S. E. Keates, I. Bigio, I. Itzkan, S. D. Freedman, R. Bansil, E. B. Hanlon, and L. T. Perelman, "Confocal light absorption and scattering spectroscopic microscopy," Applied Optics, Vol. 46, No. 10, 1 April 2007, pp. 1760-1769

5.) Y. Liu, M. Li, R. Bansil, and M. Steinhart, "Kinetics of phase transition from lamellar to hexagonally packed cylinders for a triblock copolymer in a selective solvent," Macromolecules, Vol. 40, No. 26, 2007, pp. 9482-9490

4.) R. Bansil, and B. S. Turner, "Mucin structure, aggregation, physiological functions and biomedical applications," Current Opinion in Colloid and Interface Science, Vol. 11, 2006, pp. 164-170

3.) J. P. Celli, B. Gregor, B. S. Turner, N. H. Afdhal, R. Bansil, and S. Erramilli, "Viscoelastic Properties and Dynamics of Porcine Gastric Mucin," Biomacromolecules, Vol. 6, 2005, pp. 1329-1333

2.) H. Nie, M. Li, R. Bansil, C. Konak, M. Helmstedt, and J. Lal, "Structure and dynamics of a pentablock copolymer of polystyrene-polybutadiene in a butadiene-selective solvent," Polymer, Vol. 45, 2004, pp. 8791-8799

1.) H. Nie, R. Bansil, K. F. Ludwig, M. Steinhart, C. Konak, and J. Bang, "Time-Resolved Small-Angle X-ray Scattering Study of the Kinetics of Disorder-Order Transition in a Triblock Copolymer in a Selective Solvent for the Middle Block," Macromolecules, Vol. 36, No. 21, 2003, pp. 8097-8106