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purohit(at)seas(dot)
upenn(dot)edu
Tel no.: (215) 898 3870

Full CV


PhD., Applied Mechanics
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 2002.

M.S., Applied Mechanics
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 1998.

B. Tech., Mechanical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India, 1997.

 
 
 

I am interested in problems at the interface of mechanics, physics and biology. The mechanics of DNA is one such subject where the Kirchhoff theory of filaments can be used to describe not just the behaviour of DNA at small scales but also its implications on the life cycle of viruses and the switching on and off of genes. Understanding the effects of thermal fluctuations in this context is a major thrust of my research. I am also interested in biological applications of the mechanics of lipid membranes and the mechanics of material interfaces in slender bodies.
 
 
 
 

1.“Piezoelectric nanoribbons for monitoring cellular deformations”, Thanh D. Nguyen, Nikhil Deshmukh, John M. Nagarah, Tal Kramer, Prashant K. Purohit, Michael J. Berry, Michael C. McAlpine, To appear in Nature Nanotechnology, (2012).

2.“The dependence of DNA supercoiling on solution electrostatics”, David Argudo and Prashant K. Purohit, Acta Biomaterialia 8, 2133-2143, (2012).

3.“Semiflexible filament networks viewed as fluctuating beam frames”, Tianxiang Su and Prashant K. Purohit, Soft Matter 8(17), 4664-4674, (2012).

4.“Phase boundaries as agents of structural change in macromolecules”, Ritwik Raj and Prashant K. Purohit, J. Mech. Phys. Solids 59, 2044-2069, (2011).


5. "Transition between two regimes describing internal fluctuation of DNA in a nanochannel", Tianxiang Su, Somes K. Das, Ming Xiao, Prashant K. Purohit, PLoS One Vol. 6, e16890, (2011).

6.“Multiscale mechanics of fibrin polymer: Gel stretching with protein unfolding and loss of water”, Andre E. X. Brown, Rustem I, Litvinov, Dennis E. Discher, Prashant K. Purohit, John W. Weisel, Science Vol. 325. no. 5941, pp. 741 - 744, (2009).

 
 
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