# Edward Sternin

Brock University, Physics Department
(905) 688-5550 ext. 3414/4457

 Associate Professor, PhD (British Columbia), MSc (British Columbia) Office: MC B206 Fax: (905) 984-4857 E-mail: edward.sternin@BrockU.CA

## Research Interests

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy and relaxation measurements in soft condensed matter systems. Collective motions in model membranes, phase transitions in liquid crystals.
This figure shows the current "state-of-the-art" understanding of what biological membranes look like at the molecular level. Nature tends to utilize the laws of Physics to optimize the design of living things; my ambition is to figure out how the biological organisms, and in particular, membranes, are put together, and then to learn some new Physics from it. Here are a few selected publications that tell different parts of this story:

• I.Komljenovic, D.Marquardt, T.A.Harroun and E.Sternin. Location of Chlorhexidine in DMPC Model Membranes: A Neutron Diffraction Study. Chem. Phys. Lipids, 163:480–487, 2010. (PDF)
• E.Sternin. Use of Inverse Theory Algorithms in the Analysis of Biomembrane NMR Data. In A.M. Dopico, ed., Methods in Molecular Biology, vol. 400: Methods in Membrane Lipids. Humana Press, 2007. (PDF)
• E.Sternin, D.Nizza, and K.Gawrisch. Temperature dependence of DMPC/DHPC mixing in bicelles and its structural implications. Langmuir 17:2610--2616, 2001. (PDF)
• E.Sternin, H.Schäfer, I.Polozov, and K.Gawrisch. Simultaneous determination of orientational and order parameter distributions from NMR spectra of partially oriented model membranes. J. Magn. Reson. 149:110--113, 2001. (PDF)
Computers and numerical methods in experimental data analysis
I have been involved in the development of some new approaches to dealing with experimental data. Using powerful computers to acquire and analyze experimental data allows one to ask questions that were impossible to answer before, and thus often went ignored - one learned to operate within the realm of the possible. New numerical power at our disposal is changing that; we are pushing the envelope'' on what questions an experimental physicist can try to ask of Nature.
• H.Schäfer and E.Sternin. Inverse ill-posed problems in experimental data analysis in physics, Physics in Canada, 1997. (PDF)

## The research group

Thad Harroun, Michelle Przedborski, Ed Sternin, Natassia Bork, Drew Marquardt, Ivana Komljenovic, Shawn Moodie, Brad van Oosten
August, 2010

May, 2007: Greg Dalcourt, Sara Sadeghi, Ivana Komljenovic, Ed Sternin

July, 2004: Mike Chamberlain, Roxanne Razavi, Zuzana Trskova, Amir Keyvanloo