Dr. Manolis Doxastakis
Assistant Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Dept. of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering
S222 Engineering Building 1
University of Houston
4800 Calhoun Ave.
Houston, TX 77204-4004
Office Location: S238
Telephone: (713) 743-4319
Fax: (713) 743-4323
E-mail: edoxastakis "at-sign" uh "dot" edu

› EDUCATION    › RESEARCH    › HONORS&ACTIVITIES    › PUBLICATIONS

EDUCATION

— Diploma, Chemical Engineering, National Technical University, Athens, Greece
— Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, Greece

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RESEARCH INTERESTS

Rapid advances in fields ranging from molecular biology to nano-structured materials have revealed a greater need for fundamental understanding of materials at molecular length scales, and a need to establish clear connections between microscopic information and macroscopic properties. Our research focuses on developing and applying simulation methodologies to enable the study of equilibrium structures, fluctuations, and dynamics of multicomponent systems at atomistic detail. Together with the use of advanced experimental techniques, we seek to obtain a molecular level view of cell membranes, membrane proteins, protein aggregation in polymer solutions and self-assembly and dynamics of mixtures of macromolecules.

Lipid Membranes: Cell membranes are enormously complex in terms of both structure and their dynamical properties; a mixture of lipids and protein molecules are in contact with solutions containing hydrophilic substances. We study thermodynamic properties and dynamic features of lipid assemblies to provide a detailed description of the physics of biomembranes and the factors (e.g. composition) controlling their behavior.

Protein Interactions: We are interested on the characterization of forces leading to protein association or dissociation in cell membranes and polymer solutions. Numerous diseases are believed to originate in membrane protein aggregation while the controlling factors remain largely unknown. In solution, protein-polyelectrolyte interactions are important in a variety of contexts such as protein purification, drug delivery systems and food technology.

Polymer Melts: Macromolecular mixtures present characteristic properties over an extremely wide range of space (from bond length to radius of gyration) and time scales (from bond vibrations to the longest relaxation time). Important phenomena such as phase separation, structural ordering and dynamics depend on atomistic detail. Our research takes advantage of emerging powerful algorithms and computational facilities to perform large scale simulations that will offer new insights into multicomponent polymeric materials and explore their applications in nanotechnology.

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HONORS & ACTIVITIES

— 2006: Assistant Researcher, Center for Nanotechnology, University of Wisconsin, Madison
— 2003-2006: Postdoctoral Research Associate, Department of Chemical and Biological     Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison
— 1999: Research Assistant, Molecular Science, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial     Research Organization, Melbourne, Australia
— 1996-2001: Research Assistant, Institute of Chemical Engineering and High Temperature     Chemical Processes, Patras, Greece

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SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1. M. Doxastakis, V. García-Sakai, S. Ohtake, J. K. Maranas and J. J. de Pablo, “A Molecular View of Melting in Anhydrous Phospholipidic Bilayer Membranes”, Biophys. J., 92, 147, (2007). [Journal Link]
2. M. Doxastakis, A. K. Sum and J. J. de Pablo, “Modulating Membrane Properties: The Effect of Trehalose and Cholesterol on a Phospholipid Bilayer”, J. Phys. Chem. B, 109, 24173 (2005). [Journal Link]
3. M. Doxastakis, Y-L. Chen and J. J. de Pablo, “Potential of mean force between two nanometer-scale particles in a polymer solution”, J. Chem. Phys., 123, 034901 (2005). [Journal Link]
4. M. Doxastakis, Y-L. Chen, O. Guzmán, and J. J. de Pablo, "Polymer-particle mixtures: depletion and packing    effects", J. Chem. Phys. 120, 9335 (2004). [Journal Link]
5. M. Doxastakis, D. N. Theodorou, G. Fytas, F. Kremer, R. Faller and F. Müller-Plathe, “Chain and local dynamics of polyisoprene as probed by experiments and computer simulations”, J. Chem. Phys., 119, 6883 (2003). [Journal Link]
6. M. Doxastakis, K. Chrissopoulou, A. Aouadi, B. Frick, T. P. Lodge and G. Fytas, “Segmental dynamics of disordered styrene-isoprene tetrablock copolymers”, J. Chem. Phys., 116, 4707 (2002). [Journal Link]
7. M. Doxastakis, V. G. Mavrantzas and D. N. Theodorou, “Atomistic Monte Carlo simulation of cis-1,4 polyisoprene melts. I. Single temperature end-bridging Monte Carlo simulations”, J. Chem. Phys., 115, 11339 (2001). [Journal Link]
8. M. Doxastakis, V. G. Mavrantzas and D. N. Theodorou, “Atomistic Monte Carlo simulation of cis-1,4 polyisoprene melts. II. Parallel tempering end-bridging Monte Carlo simulations”, J. Chem. Phys., 115, 11352 (2001). [Journal Link]
9. M. Doxastakis, M. Kitsiou, G. Fytas, D. N. Theodorou, N. Hadjichristidis, G. Meier and B. Frick, “Component segmental mobilities in an athermal polymer blend: Quasielastic incoherent neutron scattering versus simulation”, J. Chem. Phys., 112, 8687 (2000). [Journal Link]

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