W.k. (willem) Kegel
Scheikunde - Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science - Phy
Utrecht University
Netherlands
Biography
The central theme in my group is ‘self-organization’. We are interested in the mechanisms that govern the spontaneous formation of ordered structures from building blocks that vary in size from Angstroms to microns. These are length scales typically from the atomic to the colloidal domain. While the emphasis in my group is on experiments with colloids, theory plays an important role and we usually have one or more theoretical projects running. Biology in particular offers many examples of complex, functional structures that form spontaneously out of (macro) molecular building blocks. For example virus capsids, the protein coats that encapsulate viral RNA or DNA, consist of tens to hundreds of copies of a capsomer protein (sometimes more than one type of protein). These proteins may spontaneously assemble into virus capsids, depending on physical conditions such as temperature, pH, and ionic strength. This process often is reversible: upon changing the physical conditions viruses may spontaneously disassemble again.
Research Interest
Foundations of Complex Systems
Publications
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van Ravensteijn, Bas G P & Kegel, Willem K (15-03-2017). Tuning particle geometry of chemically anisotropic dumbbell-shaped colloids. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 490, (pp. 462-477) (16 p.). Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved..
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van Ravensteijn, Bas G P, Schild, Dirk Jan, Kegel, Willem K. & Klein Gebbink, Robertus J M (06-02-2017). The Immobilization of a Transfer Hydrogenation Catalyst on Colloidal Particles. ChemCatChem, 9 (3), (pp. 440-450) (11 p.).
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Moerman, Pepijn G., Moyses, Henrique W., van der Wee, Ernest, Grier, David G., Blaaderen, Alfons van, Kegel, Willem K., Groenewold, Jan & Brujic, Jasna (22-02-2017). Phoretic Interactions Between Active Droplets. arXiv.org 5 pages, 4 figures.
