Leela Rakesh
Professor of Applied Mathematics & Polymer Rheology
Education
B.S. : Chemistry, Mathematics & Physics Honors, Triv University, India (1979)
MS & PhD : Applied and Computational Mathematics, Theoretical and Computational Study of Biomechanical Lubrication & Rheology, IIT - Kanpur Technological Institute, India (1983)
Postdoc: Rheology of sickle cell blood flow resistance using piezoelectric transducer (NIH& Washington University, School of Medicine), St. Louis , Missouri (1983-84)
Contact Information
Pearce 117A, Department of Mathematics
Phone(989)-774-6524 (office) 3503 (rheology Lab)
Fax: 989-774-2414, Email: LRakesh@aol.com
Research Fields
I am interested in studying rheological properties polymers and biopolymers and applying mathematical techniques, statistical mechanics and molecular modeling to study the properties of biological and synthetic macromolecules.
My group consists of physicist, chemists, and engineers. We study macro to micro to nanosuspension (solution and melt) rheology.
I am interested in developing new techniques for characterizing the branching, and entanglement patterns of network polymers, its molecular architecture and packing. This research includes applying concepts from graph theory, surface topography and knot theory to understand and characterize these networks. Pharmacophore modeling: Superpose pharmacophore elements to identify bioactive conformation. Transport properties (diffusivities, self -assembly and the intrinsic viscosities) of macromolecules using computational techniques. Computations have been performed on random coil and wormlike models of linear chain polymers, star polymers, hyperbranched polymers, dendrimers, Cyclodextrins, ssDNA and proteins and their interactions with and without functionalized carbon nanotubes
Current Research Projects
Selected Publications
Molecular Dynamics Simulation of PAMAM Dendrimer-Fullerene Conjugates: Generation One through Four, (M. Kujawski, L. Rakesh, K. Gala, A. Jensen*, B. Fahlman*, Z. Feng, D. Mohanty), J. Nanosci. and Nanotech., 7, 4/5, (2007).
A PAMAM (G4.5) Dendrimer Nanocarrier for Diaminocyclohexane Platinum Species, (D. Fan, B. Howell*, L. Rakesh*), Poly. Mat. Sci. Eng., 93, 946, (2006).
Analytical Investigation of PAMAM-Platinum Dendrimer Nanocarrier, (D. Fan, B. Howell*, L. Rakesh*), Chapter accepted in Monograph, Amer. Chem. Soc., (2006).
Thermal Decomposition of a Generation 4.5 Polyamidoamine Dendrimer Platinum Conjugate, (B. Howell*, D. Fan, and L. Rakesh), J. Thermal Anal. & Cal., 85(1), 17-20, (2006).
Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Binding and Deformation of Single-Stranded DNA (ssDNA) with Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (SWNTs), C60, and Capped SWNTs, (L. Rakesh, C. Slomenski, and M. Chai), Proc., Nanotech & Nanomedicine, 1, 3, (2006).
Solution Rheology of Saline and Polysaccharide Systems, (N. Almeida, S. Hirschi, A. Mueller, L. Rakes), Proc., ASME, Chicago, (2006).
A Novel Multivalent Platinum Nanoconjguate Based PAMAM Dendrimer, (D. Fan, B. Howell, L. Rakesh), Proc., 3245, J. Amer. Chem. Soc., Washington D.C., (2005).
Figure below: ssDNA wrapped around positively charged single wall carbon nanotube
