Electrostatic Effects in Complex Fluids and Biophysics
Coordinators: William M. Gelbart, V. Adrian Parsegian, Philip A. Pincus
During the past decade a great deal of fundamental research has been directed once again
towards the classic problem of charged colloidal particles in solution. Part of the impetus has
come from the biophysical area, notably from higher resolution studies of charged proteins, lipid
bilayers, and polynucleotides, part from recent developments in computer simulation and
many-body theory, and part from new directions in the science of "soft" materials. The purpose
of this workshop was to bring together a critical mass of researchers committed to establishing
basic connections between these various statistical mechanical electrostatic problems and to
working out the necessary ideas and techniques for solving them.