User:Julius B. Lucks

Julius in Paris

I am a graduate student of David Nelson at Harvard University working on problems in biophysics related to viruses. We are interested in problems ranging from structural properties of viral capsids (and the underlying theory of geometrical defects in curved lattices that is required), to understanding phage genomics.

Science

My specific projects deal with

• Unzipping DNA at a constant force
• Translocating RNA through nanopores
• Geometrical Defects in curved, two-dimensional crystals (rolated to viral capsids)
• Phage genome landscapes - a way to visualize important genomic features

Interests

In addition to biophysics, I am becoming more and more fascinated with how the internet can be used to make some of the common tasks in science more efficient. I enjoy thinking about topics such as:

• How to make the literature more efficient system through better user interfaces to searching.
• Low-overhead customizable databases for quick and flexible organization of data (Idea Discussion).
• Using the internet for fast publication of results.
  • Broad community ranking of the usefulness/integrity of such results.

As it turns out, I am not the first to think of such ideas, which is why I am so excited to be a part of the discussion at OWW. If anyone is interested and wants to chat about these, please email me.

Tools I Like

• Perl
  • Perl-CGI - check out The Pica Literature Database
• Python
• Ruby on Rails