We are always interested in talented PhD students or Postdocs who want to join our group. Our work is interdisciplinary and so we welcome people with backgrounds in theoretical physics, theoretical chemistry, applied mathematics, engineering, and biology. Familiarity with computer simulations and theoretical techniques of statistical mechanics is important. Please contact Ard Louis by email if you are interested.

• Applying as a DPhil student: Please get in touch with me directly, and see the links below:
  • Applying for a DPhil positions in condensed matter theory
  • I can also supervise students for the Systems Biology Doctoral Training Centre
  • and for the Life Sciences Interface Doctoral Training Centre
  .
  Applying as a post-doc
  • Post-docs can apply for a variety of funding opportunities including the Marie Curie Fellowship available through the EU Framework 6 research programme, fellowships administered by the Royal Society, and fellowships administered by individual Oxford Colleges, usually advertised in the Oxford University Gazette
    or other sources such as Human Frontier Science Program or the Eurpean young investigator award
    Newton Fellowships This scheme provides the opportunity for the best early stage post-doctoral non-UK scientists who are at an early stage of their career and wish to conduct research in the UK for a period of two years. Funding consists of 24,000 per annum for subsistence costs, and up to 8,000 per annum research expenses, as well as a one-off payment of up to 2,000 for relocation expenses. Closing date: 16 April 2012. For scheme notes and further information visit: Royalsociety.org/grants/schemes/newton-international

Research Projects in the Louis group

Here are some potential projects that we may be considering for the coming year. In practice, these projects always evolve, in part because research advances rapidly, and in part because we adapt the projects to the particular strengths and interests of the DPhil candidates.

• Understanding the self-assembly of DNA nanostructures

  The ability to design nanostructures which accurately self-assemble from simple units is central to the goal of engineering objects and machines on the nanoscale. Without self-assembly, structures must be laboriously constructed in a step by step fashion. Double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) has the ideal properties for a nanoscale building block, and new DNA nanostructures are being published at an ever increasing rate. Here in the Clarendon the world-leading experimental group of Andrew Turberfield has created a number of intriguing nanostructures using physical self-assembly mechanisms. We have recently developed a new simplified theoretical model of DNA that appears to capture the dominant physics involved. In this project you would apply the model to study some simple nanostructures. You will mainly be using Monte Carlo simulations and statistical mechanical calculations to study these processes. A potential new direction for this project could also be to extend our new methods to study RNA nanostructures.
  Tom Ouldridge has some nice pictures up on his site about this project.
  and the Physics Department Newsletter had a little popular piece on our work here .
  This project is in close collaboration with the group of Dr. Jonathan Doye.
  Our new oxDNA model has its own web page where you can download our code: http://dna.physics.ox.ac.uk/

• The physics of biological evolution

  "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution." wrote the great naturalist Theodosius Dobzhansky , but to really understand evolution, a stochastic optimization process in a very high dimensional space, will require techniques from statistical physics. In this project you will use theoretical tools and computer simulations to study a number of simplified models we have been developing in our group to understand the physics of evolution. For example, we are studying how evolution can explain the structures of protein complexes, and also studying some simple models of self-assembling tiling systems.
  Iain Johnston has some nice pictures up on this project.
  This project is in close collaboration with the group of Dr. Jonathan Doye.

• Positive Design for Self-Assembly

  The remarkable ability of biological matter to robustly self-assemble into well defined composite objects excites the imagination. Viruses, for example, can be reversibly dissolved and re-assembled from their component parts simply by changing the solution pH. How does nature achieve this feat? Can we uncover the "positive design rules" for inter-particle interactions that allow the self-assembly of a particular desired 3-dimensional structure [1]? Can we use evolutionary algorithms to design these particles? Such understanding could have important implications for nanoscience, where objects are too small to directly manipulate, and instead must come together by self-assembly mechanisms.
  This project is in close collaboration with the group of Dr. Jonathan Doye.
  

  Here is a movie that Iain made about virus self-assembly:

  
  [1] Reversible self-assembly of patchy particles into monodisperse clusters
  Alex W. Wilber, Jonathan P. K. Doye, Ard A. Louis, Mark A. Miller, Eva G. Noya, Pauline Wong
  J. Chem. Phys. 127, 085106 (2007)
  | arxiv abstract | pdf reprint| Modelling the Self-Assembly of Virus Capsids

  
  Iain G. Johnston, Ard A. Louis and Jonathan P.K. Doye
  J. Phys.: Condensed Matter, 22 , 104101 (2010)
  | arxiv abstract | pdf reprint | (this paper was selected for journal cover an\ d as one of the journal's Highlights of 2010)

• The interplay of Brownian and hydrodynamic interactions in suspensions

  When suspended particles move in a background fluid, they experience random kicks (Brownian motion), but also generate long-ranged hydrodynamic flows. This project would use a new computer simulation method, stochastic rotation dynamics (SRD) that includes both these effects, to study flow properties of complex fluids. There is also scope for more mathematical approaches combining non-equilibrium statistical mechanics and hydrodynamics to explain some of the dramatic effects we are seeing. Examples of applications include dynamic lane formation, fluctuations during sedimentation, colloidal nano-pumps, and colloidal "explosions".

  To see the effect of hydrodynamic interactions, compare these two movies:
  • Movie 1: sedimentation in a closed box with hydrodynamic interactions.
  • Movie 2: sedimentation in a closed box with only Brownian interactions.
  • Or check out what happens when you have aggregation and sedimentation

  This project would also work closely with the experimental groups of Dr Roel Dullens and Dr Dirk Aarts , and the theory group of Prof Julia Yeomans

  The effects of inter-particle attractions on colloidal sedimentation
  A. Moncho Jorda', A. A. Louis and J. T. Padding
  Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 068301 (2010)
  | arxiv abstract | pdf reprint | (this paper was selected as an Editor's Suggestion" in PRL)

  The interplay between hydrodynamic and Brownian fluctuations in sedimenting colloidal suspensions
  J.T. Padding and A.A. Louis
  Phys. Rev. E 77, 011402 (2008) || pdf reprint |
  

  Hydrodynamic interactions and Brownian forces in colloidal suspensions: Coarse-graining over time and length-scales
  J.T. Padding and A.A. Louis
  Phys. Rev. E 74, 031402 (2006)
  | arxiv abstract | pdf reprint|
  

  Hydrodynamic and Brownian Fluctuations in Sedimenting Suspensions
  J.T. Padding and A. A. Louis, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 220601 (2004)
  | arxiv abstract | pdf reprint|