Changing order and disorder in hierarchical assemblies of fibrous macromolecules

Abstract: Fibre Diffraction and X-ray scattering afford the possibility of observing nanostructural changes in dynamic systems where the lattice and ordering of systems can be challenged by a number of  factors. In the presentation I will show changed induced in molecular structure by mechanical testing, radiation damage, heating, drying and cooling.  Each case corresponds to phenomena required to be understood in a physiological or manufacturing  process. The talk will also focus on the hierarchical structure of biological materials between the nanoscopic and mesoscopic levels that have proven hard to mimic in synthetic materials.

Examples of molecular hierarchies studied are from collagen (mechanical testing, radiation damage, cooling), fibrillin (mechanical testing) and cellulose (drying).  The experimental observations will be complemented by the work in progress that is attempting to explain each of the observed effects.