Dr Patrick Varilly PhD

I am a post-doc in the Department of Chemistry, working with Daan Frenkel. My main current research interest is in self-assembly. We are exploring how to coax colloids to assemble spontaneously into pre-programmed arrangements by cleverly coating them with DNA. Before you walk, you need to crawl, so we are focusing on understanding theoretically how simple DNA-coated colloids interact with each other, and slowly building up to more complex structures. Previously, I was an undergraduate in Physics at MIT, where I worked in research projects in population genetics and in computational quantum field theory. Following a year as a visiting student at ENS in Paris, I carried out my graduate work in Berkeley under David Chandler, focusing on understanding and modelling the hydrophobic effect (the tendency for oil and water to separate), with an eye towards biological applications. Broadly speaking, my research leverages computer simulations to address problems of scientific and technological importance.

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