Adhesion and polymer dynamics

We have quantified polymer chain dynamics and the kinetics and spatial range of tethered ligand-receptor binding. A Science paper shows that the efficiency of strong tethered binding depends on its rare extended conformations. Using the reaction-diffusion formalism, we also show that the range of adhesion is more generally determined by a combination of tether dynamics, ligand-receptor affinity and experimental speed of approach v.
We also solve exactly the old standing problem of polymer cyclization.