Argonne researcher wins $1 million math project award

ARGONNE, Ill. (July 26, 2005) – Hans G. Kaper, researcher at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, has received a $1 million grant from DOE's Office of Science to study a multiscale approach to self-organization of microtubules.

Microtubules are minute filaments in cells, small tubes that function in forming and maintaining cellular shapes.

The project is motivated by a central problem of science – the emergence of large-scale coherent biological structures. Kaper will use mathematics to help learn how random mixtures of molecular components organize themselves into large-scale cellular structures.

If the process can be modeled mathematically and simulated through a computer program, it can provide information to the study of microtubules and molecular motors, both of which have important biomedical and industrial applications.

The three-year research project has significant computational complexity, and the proposed approach is fundamental for a broad range of problems relevant to the mission of the Office of Science.

The research is funded under the Office of Science's “Multiscale Mathematics” program. The program addresses those science problems that span many time scales – from femtoseconds to years – and many length scales – from the atomic level to the macroscopic. The problems cannot be easily broken down into simpler problems for solution using traditional mathematical techniques.

"Science is replete with examples that range over orders of magnitude in length and time scales,” said Dr. Raymond L. Orbach, director of the Office of Science. “Brute force computational simulation, even on the most powerful present-day computers, cannot handle these ranges, so new mathematics is needed. This initiative is meant to surmount this barrier to our understanding of nature."

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America 's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

For more information, please contact Steve McGregor (630/252-5580 or media@anl.gov) at Argonne.