Presentation: 2025 ND EPSCoR Annual conference 

October 21, 2025, NDSU Memorial Union, Fargo, North Dakota

Inducing Biopolymer Folding via Responsive Nano-confinement

Controlling the folding of biopolymers in crowded and confined environments (e.g., biological cells) remains a significant challenge. For example, crowding or confinement of proteins can influence transition pathways between folded and unfolded states. In experiments, polymers can be immersed in a crowded or confined environment. One adaptive, stimuli-responsive medium for confinement can be offered by hydrogels – crosslinked polymer networks that swell by absorbing solvent and whose swelling behavior responds to changes in temperature [1]. To explore the influence of confinement on the structure of polymers and the surrounding medium, we model fluctuating conformations by probability distributions of gyration tensor eigenvalues [2] and hydrogels via the Flory-Rehner theory of polymer networks. Within this coarse-grained model, we apply free-volume theory to polymers in hydrogel confinement and analyze polymer response (size, shape, and folding) to changes in network swelling. Our results can elucidate protein behavior in confined cellular environments. [1] Routh et al., J. Phys. Chem. B 110, 12721 (2006). [2] W. K. Lim and A. R. Denton, J. Chem. Phys. 141, 114909 (2014); 144, 024904 (2016). Supported by National Science Foundation (DMR-1928073).