School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Cantock's Close, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
Ph: +44 (0)117 3318256; email: wuge.briscoe@bristol.ac.uk
Johanna Berge
Johanna obtained her Master's degree in Chemistry and Life Sciences from the Université Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, France. She then moved to Bristol to embark on her PhD in the Briscoe group as part of the Marie Curie NanoS3 network. Her project involves squeezing, shearing and pressuring surfactants (among other rude things) and other biomolecules (as long as they don't contain benzene rings* - they scare Wuge) in confined spaces, sometimes in the presence of exotic nanoparticles.
Jo likes travelling, most often to France to build up her cheese and wine collection.
* But double bonds are allowed.
PhD Research: Invading confined mesophases with nanoparticles
Mesophases are fascinating states of matter that have been intriguing scientists for decades. The interactions between surfaces mediated by lyotropic mesophases mixed with nanoparticles under confinement have not been reported previously. How nanoparticles would perturb highly ordered mesomorphic structures under confinement is not well understood. Such an understanding is of fundamental interest to nanotoxicology, drug delivery, and applications of nanofluids. Using a surface force apparatus (SFA), I will make direct measurement of surface forces and friction in these mesophase-nanoparticle mixtures, for which it is crucial to correlate and compare bulk and surface structures.
