Properties of concentrated macromolecular solutions

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1. The viscometer/rheometer described in last year's report has been used to measure the concentration-dependent viscosity of three proteins - BSA, ovomucoid, and fibrinogen - individually, in binary mixtures, and in ternary mixtures. A semi-empirical relation requiring the specification of only two parameters per protein has been found to account quantitatively for the viscosity of individual proteins and mixtures at all concentrations up to 300 g/l to within experimental precision. (A. Grupi & A. Minton) 2. A compact yet extremely precise representation of the radial distribution function of hard sphere fluids and square well fluids has been discovered. This representation will be used to test semiempirical models of the colligative properties of such fluids (T. Hoppe) 3. A compact yet accurate method for coarse-graining electrostatic interactions between proteins has been developed. The novel coarse-graining algorithms will enable Monte Carlo and Brownian Dynamic simulations of the properties of concentrated proteins to be undertaken over a broad range of pH and ionic strength. (T. Hoppe)