COLLABORATION IN BASIC SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (COBASE)

In summer 1999, Jan Genzer took a two-week trip to the Czech Republic, where he was hosted by Petr Vlcek of the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry (IMC) in Prague. The IMC is a premium scientific research institute and part of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The research section of the institute is divided into 19 specialized research departments which are grouped in the following research areas: (1) polymer chemistry; (2) polymer physics; (3) physical chemistry of macromolecular systems; (4) biomedical polymers; and (5) electronic phenomena in polymers. Genzer took a tour through the institute and was very impressed with the quality of the equipment and instrumentation available. The laboratory conditions, especially the synthetic labs, were very good. Genzer adds that it is a difficult task for the IMC scientists to keep the instrumentation so up-to-date with the relatively small amount of funds available to them, but they do a fine job. The goal of this collaboration is to carry out the first systematic studies of polyelectrolyte brush properties. They have produced a grant proposal, "Probing the structure of charged macromolecular assemblies tethered at solid/liquid interfaces," and plan on submitting it to NSF so they may obtain the necessary funding required to complete their research.