Glassy dynamics and nucleation in liquids and colloids

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Why does water freeze so easily, while silica, an analogue to water in several ways, resists freezing and instead forms a glass? How can one use external electric fields to increase the ability of self-assembling colloids to form a single crystal? How can we use computer simulation to optimize the antimicrobial properties of peptides derived from cod? These are some of the questions we pose as we advance our long-term research goal of understanding some general phenomena of simple and tetrahedral liquids: crystal nucleation, glassy dynamics and the interplay between the two, as well as a possible liquid-liquid critical point in liquids like water and silica that can explain their anomalous properties and the existence of multiple glassy phases. These goals also extend to understanding colloidal dynamics and self-assembly. As a secondary aim, we wish to apply the theoretical and computational techniques developed for liquids to macromolecular systems of biological and medical interest. The results of the proposed research may help others understand what the possible structural underpinnings are for glassy liquid behaviour, a hitherto unresolved problem. They may help in the design colloids that either form stable, crystal-free glasses, or crystallize to a single crystal structure, like the cubic diamond structure that holds much promise for photonics applications. Reducing the computational burden required for simulating proteins will help speed up the process of computer-aided drug design.