Radicals at Interfaces: Understanding and Exploiting the Physical Behaviour of Radicals on the Surfaces of Biological and Bulk Materials

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Chemical species known as radicals tend to be highly reactive because they have one or more unpaired electrons.  In living systems, oxygen-centred radicals are present because of the respiration of oxygen.  These oxygen-centred radicals are extremely damaging to biological materials such as proteins because they initiate chemical reactions that destroy biomaterial function and consequently induce disease states.  In high-technology applications, radicals often serve as defect centres that inhibit the performance of electronic devices such as computer chips by acting as charge-traps.  In both of these diverse example systems, radicals are ubiquitous.***My research uses computational chemistry and physics tools to simulate systems in which radicals are important.  We also work in close collaboration with experimentalists who test our predictions and help us to implement our ideas.  I am working toward understanding the physical properties of radicals in biological systems in order to prevent their damaging effects and solid-state systems to exploit their unique properties for technological applications.  In the case of biological systems, my research group is studying how radicals chemically damage biological molecules like proteins.  This will allow us to understand how these deleterious reactions are inhibited naturally in biological systems and how chemical intervention can play a role in preventing diseases that may be caused by radicals.  In solid-state systems, we seek to exploit the unique character associated with radicals in order to create new hybrid systems with interesting and viable functionality.  We will do this by simulating semiconducting and conducting surfaces functionalized with nanostructured radical species.  Ultimately, the goal of our work is to provide benefit to Canada by developing insights into how radicals contribute to diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's and into new electronic technologies that have the potential to be put into production. **