CURRICULUM VITAE




Rudolf Podgornik


Born August 27, 1955; Ljubljana, Slovenia.


Basic Education: 


Eight Year Elementary School, Ljubljana

Four Year Classical Gymnasium, Ljubljana


Higher Education:


B.S. in theoretical physics, 1978 University of Ljubljana

M.A. in biophysics, 1982 University of Ljubljana

Ph.D.in theoretical physics, 1986 University of Ljubljana


Positions Held: 


  1. 1977-1982    Research Assistant, Institute of Biophysics, Medical Faculty, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

  2. 1983-1986    Research Assistant, Institute Jozef Stefan, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

  3. 1986-1987    Staff Member, J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

  4. 1987-1989    Visiting Fellow, Laboratory of Molecular Forces and Assembly, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA

  5. 1990-1992    Senior Staff Member, J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

  6. 1992-1993    Visiting scientist, Division of Physical Chemistry II, University of Lund, Lund S - 22100, Sweden.

  7. 1993-1995    Visiting Scientist, Laboratory of Structural Biology, DCRT, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.

  8. 1995-1998    Assistant Professor, Dept. of Physics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

  9. 1995-1997    Visiting Scientist, Laboratory of Structural Biology, DCRT, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.

  10. 1997- 2010   Adjunct Research Scientist, Laboratory of Physical and Structural Biology, National Institute of Child Health and Human  Developement, National  Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-5626, USA.

  11. 1997             A one month sabbatical at Aspen Institute for Physics, Aspen, Colorado

  12. 1998             A three month sabbatical at Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, workshop “Electrostatic Effects in Soft Matter and Biophysics”.

  13. 1998-2001    Associate Professor of Physics, Dept. of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

  14. 2001-            Professor of Physics, Dept. of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

  15. 2002             A three month sabbatical at Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, Universite Paris Sud, Orsay.

  16. 2004-2007    Member of the Editorial Board of Physical Review E in the areas of polymer physics and biological physics.

  17. 2006             A one month sabbatical at the Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, workshop “Molecular Machines”.

  18. 2007             Member of the International Advisory Board on "Strongly Coupled Coulomb Systems" (IAB on SCCS).

  19. 2008             Member of the editorial board  of “Journal of Biological Physics”.

  20. 2008-2010    Member of the editorial board  of “PMC Biophysics”.

  21. 2008             A two month sabbatical at the Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, workshop “Theory and practice of fluctuation induced interactions”.

  22. 2009            A one month sabbatical at Aspen Institute for Physics, Aspen, Colorado at the workshop “Filamentous Assemblies: Complex Ordering from Biopolymers to Nano-rods”, 1 Aug. - 14 Sept., 2009.

  23. 2009-           Co-editor in chief of the “Journal of Biological Physics”.

  24. 2010-           Adjunct Professor, Department of Physics, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

  25. 2011            Visiting professor at Department of Theoretical Physics, University of Toulouse, France.

  26. 2013            Visiting professor at the Physics Department, Freie Universitaet and Physical Chemistry Department, Technische Universitaet, Berlin.

  27. 2014-            Member of the editorial board of Scientific Reports (Nature), in the areas of Fluids and Plasma  Physics.

  28. 2012-            Member of the European Research Council STG PE3 panel.

  29. 2015            Visiting Joliot chair professor at Ecole superieure de physique et chimie industrielles, Laboratoire Gulliver ESPCI Paris.


Grants:


  1. • 1993-1994 Research grant from the Research Council of Sweden

  2. • 1995 Research grant from Exxon Inc. for the beamtime on the X10A line at Brookhaven National Synchrotron Light Source for the project: Small Angle X-ray Scattering on Highly Oriented Liquid Crystalline DNA samples under Osmotic Stress by H.H. Strey, R. Podgornik, D.C. Rau and V.A. Parsegian.

  3. • 2003-2008 Research grant by the Slovene research agency: P1-0055 Biophysics of Polymers, Membranes, Gels, Colloids and Cells (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Ljubljana)

  4. • 2006-2008 Research grant by the Slovene research agency: L2-7080 Optimization of methacrylate monolithic supports for macromolecule separation (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Ljubljana)

  5. • 2005-2007 Research grant by the Slovene research agency Z1-7171 Modeling of granular matter and magnetic gels dynamics (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Ljubljana)

  6. • 2005-2009 EU-funded research project, funded under the Sixth Framework Programme  Contract Nr. NMP3-CT-2005-013862 Interfacial Materials - Computational and Experimental Multi-Scale Studies (INCEMS).

  7. • 2008-2014 Research grant by the Slovene research agency: P1-0055 Biophysics of Polymers, Membranes, Gels, Colloids and Cells (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Ljubljana)

  8. • 2010-2013 Research grant from the Leverhulme Trust, Project ID 20090765 Self-assembly in Ionic Liquids

  9. • 2011-2015 Long Range van der Waals - London Dispersion Interactions For Biomolecular and Inorganic Nanoscale Assembly, US DOE-BES-DMSE-BMM, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, Award DE-SC0008176



Fellowships:


  1. •NATO conference travel grant in 1984.

  2. •Fogarty Fellowship (NIH) 1996 - 1998.

  3. •NATO grant ASI.976196 and the European Commission, Research DG, Human Potential Programme, High-Level Scientific Conferences, contract HPCF-CT-1999-00130 for the organization of : Les Houches École de Physique, NATO Advanced Study Institute, Euro Summer School in 2000.


Organization of Scientific Meetings:


  1. • Organizer (together with C. Holm and P. Kekicheff) of: Les Houches École de Physique, NATO Advanced Study Institute, Euro Summer School Electrostatic Effects in Soft Matter and Biophysics, October 1-13 2000, Supported by NATO grant ASI.976196 and the European Commission, Research DG, Human Potential Programme, High-Level Scientific Conferences, contract HPCF-CT-1999-00130.

  2. • Chair of the session: Liquid Crystals in Biology at the 2001 Liquid Crystals Gordon Conference, June 24-29, 2001, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH.

  3. • Member of the international scientific committee of the Applied Statistical Physics Molecular Engineering Conference (ASTATPHYS-MEX-2001) in Cancun, Mexico in 2001.

  4. • Member of the international advisory committee of the summer school From Solid State to Biophysics IV, Cavtat, Croatia (2008).

  5. • Member of the international program committee of the Liquids 2008 conference, Lund, Sweden.

  6. • Member of the international advisory committee of the International Conference on Strongly Coupled Coulomb Systems (SCCS), Camerino Italy (2008).

  7. • Organizer (together with Jure Dobnikar, Ali Naji and David Dean) CECAM workshop: New Challenges in Electrostatics of Soft and Disordered Matter, May 7, 2012 to May 10, 2012, University of Toulouse III, France

  8. •Organizer (together with F. Livolant, C. Micheletti, M. Marsili) of the ICTP workshop: Physical Virology, ICTP Trieste, 24-28.09.2012 and co-editor of the Special issue of the Journal of Biological physics “Physical Virology”. http://www.springer.com/physics/biophysics+&+biological+physics/journal/10867


Membership in Professional Societies:


American Biophysical Society. (ABS)

American Physical Society. (APS)

American Association for the Advancement of Science. (AAAS)

The Slovenian Society of Mathematicians, Physicists and Astronomers. (DMFA)

The Planetary Society.


Distinguished Professional Awards:


  1. •The 1991 B. Kidric award for scientific accomplishments (Ljubljana, Slovenia)

  2. •1995 DCRT/NIH Director's award for recognition and appreciation of special achievement (NIH, USA)

  3. •The national 1999 Zois award for excellence in scientific research (Ljubljana, Slovenia). This is the highest award for scientific achievement in Slovenia. It can be obtained only once in a lifetime.

  4. •The 2008 Martin Hirschorn IAC Prize – Best Paper Award as coauthor of a paper  published in the May-June 2006 issue of the Noise Control Engineering Journal (54(3), 137-145). This important award, made possible by the generosity of Martin Hirschorn, is granted once every two years by the INCE Foundation.  The Institute of Noise Control Engineering (INCE) of the USA with more than 900 members is one of the world’s premier professional organizations for noise control engineers.


Invited talks:


Dr. Podgornik has had invited talks at the following institutes and universities:


R. Podgornik: Interactions and Molecular Disorder in Collapsed DNA, DCRT/NIIDD Seminar of Bio- and Chemical Physics Bethesda, MD, USA (1987).

R. Podgornik: The Action of Inter-Helical Forces on the Organization of DNA Double Helices, NCI-Laboratory of Mathematical Biology Seminar, Bethesda, MD, USA (1988).

R. Podgornik: Forces and Fluctuations in Collapsed DNA System, Seminar at the National Bureau of Standards Gaithersburg, MD, USA (1988).

R. Podgornik: Forces and Fluctuations in Collapsed DNA, Seminar at the Chemical Center, Lund, Sweden (Sept.15, 1989).

R. Podgornik: Forces and Fluctuations in Collapsed DNA, Seminar at the Lecture Course: Unusual DNA structures and their possible biological implications, Marina di Aurisina, Italy (1990).

R. Podgornik: Polyelectrolyte mediated electrostatic interactions Seminar at the Chemical Center, University of Lund, Sweden (Oct.6, 1992).

R. Podgornik: Variational methods for polymeric chains Seminar at the Chemical Center, University of Lund, Sweden (Nov.25,1992).

R. Podgornik: A variational approach to configurational statistics of charged polymeric chains, Invited Lecture, Polyelectrolytes meeting (P.Dubin and R.S.Farinato organizers), American Chemical Society Meeting, Denver, Colorado (1993).

R.Podgornik:   A Sharper Look at DNA Mesophases. A lecture presented at joint  NIH/NIST Molecular Dynamics Workshop, Dec.8 (1994)

R. Podgornik, H.H. Strey, K. Gawrisch, D.C. Rau, A. Rupprecht and V.A. Parsegian:  Bond order, molecular motion and free energy of high density DNA mesophases. Invited lecture presented at the Fall Meeting of the Materials Research Society, Boston, November 26 - December 2, 1995.

R. Podgornik: High density DNA mesophases, Invited lecture MECO 21, April 17-21, Bled, Slovenia (1996).  

R. Podgornik: High density DNA mesophases, Lecture at the Chemical Center,University of Lund, Sweden, April 23st (1996).  

R. Podgornik: High density DNA mesophases, Lecture at the Arrhenius Laboratory,University of Stockholm, Sweden, April 25st (1996).  

R. Podgornik: High density DNA mesophases, Lecture at the Department of Physics,University of West Virginia, Morgantown, September 14th (1996).  

R. Podgornik: Statistical mechanics of DNA mesophases, Lecture at Institut Charles Sadron, Strassbourg, France, October 4th (1996).

R. Podgornik: Statistical Mechanics of DNA mesophases, Lecture at Physics Department,Postech University, Pohang, Korea, Nov 28 (1996).  

H.H. Strey, R. Podgornik, D.C. Rau, L. Yu, V.A. Parsegian, J.Wang and E. Sirota: Chirality, Structure and Free Energy of DNA Liquid Crystals. Talk presented at the Fall Meeting of the Materials Research Society, Boston, Mass, November 26 - December 2, 1996.

R. Podgornik:  DNA mesophases : from concentrated to dilute. Invited lecture at the fall APS meeting, Kansas City, MO (1997).

R. Podgornik:  The Fluctuation Contribution to the Macromolecular Forces, Invited lecture at the joint physics seminar of the Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, Feb. 16 (1998).

R. Podgornik:  Equation of State for Polymer Liquid Crystals, Invited talk at the workshop: Structure of Biopolymer Solutions: Semiflexibility with a Twist, Biophysical Society Meeting, Kansas City, MO, Feb. 22 (1998).

R. Podgornik:  The Phase Diagram of DNA and its Equation of State, Seminar at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, September 14 (1998).

R. Podgornik:  DNA Equation of State in Condensed Mesophases, Lecture at the conference ``Electrostatic Effects in Complex Fluids and Biophysics'', ITP/UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA, October 19-23 (1998).

R. Podgornik: The equation of state of DNA mesophases, Invited lecture at the Physics Department, University of California at San Diego, San Diego, CA, October 26 (1998).

R. Podgornik: The equation of state of DNA mesophases, Invited lecture at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, Columbia University, New York, NY, November 6 (1998).

R. Podgornik:  The DNA phase diagram at large densities : lecture given at Los Alamos National Laboratories, Department of Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics. Los Alamos, NM, January 27 (1999).

R. Podgornik: Structure and interactions in DNA and lipid membrane assemblies : invited talk at Centennial Meeting of the American Physical , Atlanta 1999. Bull. Am. Phys.  Soc., 1999, 44, str. 708.

R. Podgornik: Buckling, fluctuations and collapse in semiflexible polyelectrolytes, an invited lecture at the 4th Claude Itzykson Symposium, Saclay, France, June 22-25 (1999).

R. Podgornik: Buckling, fluctuations and collapse in semiflexible polyelectrolytes, an invited seminar at  Department of Biochemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis -  St. Paul, July 19 (1999).

R. Podgornik: Structure and interactions in DNA and lipid membrane assemblies : invited talk at the Department of Physics, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel, 21 Nov 1999.

R. Podgornik: Structure and interactions in DNA and lipid membrane assemblies : invited talk at the Department of Chemistry, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel, 22 Nov 1999.

R. Podgornik: Structure and interactions in DNA and lipid membrane assemblies : invited talk at Department of Physics, Bar-Ilan University, Bar-Ilan, Israel, 24 Nov 1999.

R. Podgornik: Conformations and interactions in DNA and lipid membrane assemblies. invited talk at The First Workshop on Biological Physics 2000: September 18-22, 2000, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok: Thai Institute of Physics: ASEAN Institute of Physics, 2000, str. 21.

R. Podgornik: Buckling, fluctuations and collapse in semiflexible polymers: invited talk at: Meco 25 Middle European Cooperation in Statistical Physics, March 9th-11th, 2000, Pont-a-Mousson, France. MECO 25. [Pont-a-Mousson]: [s.n.], 2000, p. L8.

R. Podgornik: Microscopic interactions and macroscopic elasticity in flexible biopolymers : invited talk given at Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo, Mexico City, Mexico. 2000.

R. Podgornik: Microscopic interactions and macroscopic elasticity in semiflexible polymers : lecture given at University of Pittsburgh, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Chemistry, Pittsburgh. 2000.

R. Podgornik: Interactions and conformations in DNA and membrane arrays : invited talk at NATO Advanced Study Institute and EURO Summer School on Electrostatic Effects in Soft Matter and Biophysics, Les Houches, France, October 1-13. 2000.

R. Podgornik: Interactions and conformational fluctuations in macromolecular arrays : invited talk given at Physics Department, Universität Konstanz, FRG. 2001.

R. Podgornik: Microscopic interactions and mesoscopic elasticity in flexible polyelectrolytes : invited talk given at Max-Planck-Institut für Polymerforschung, FRG. 2001.

R. Podgornik: Structure and interactions in DNA and lipid membrane assemblies : invited talk given at Riso National Laboratory, Riso, Denmark. 2001.

R. Podgornik: (Pseudo) Casimir forces in confined polyeledtrolytes : invited talk  given at Mini Symposium on Forces Between Charged Macromolecules, Chemical Center, University of Lund, Lund. 2001.

R. Podgornik: Microscopic interactions and mesoscopic elasticity in flexible polyelectrolytes : invited talk given at Biophysics Seminar, Department of Chemistry, Techical University of Denmark, Lyngby. 2001.

R. Podgornik: Microscopic interactions and mesoscopic elasticity in flexible polyelectrolytes : lecture given at Hahn-Meitner Institut, Berlin. 2002.

R. Podgornik: Microscopic interactions and mesoscopic elasticity in flexible polyelectrolytes : lecture given at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. 2002.

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Microscopic interactions and mesoscopic elasticity in flexible polyelectrolytes. lecture given at symposium: Polyelectrolytes 2002. Lund: Lunds Universitet, 2002

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Microscopic interactions and mesoscopic elasticity in flexible polyelectrolytes : [lecture given at Joint Soft Matter Seminar, Institut für Festkörperforschung, Jülich]. 2002. [COBISS.SI-ID 1576548]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Microscopic interactions and mesoscopic elasticity in flexible polyelectrolytes : [lecture given at Laboratoire de Physique Mathematique et Theorique, Universite Montpellier]. 2002. [COBISS.SI-ID 1577060]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Microscopic interactions and mesoscopic elasticity in flexible polyelectrolytes : [lecture given at SFB-Seminar TR6, Institut für Theoretische Physik II, Düsseldorf]. 2002. [COBISS.SI-ID 1576804]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Microscopic interactions and mesoscopic elasticity in flexible polyelectrolytes : [lecture given at the Abdus Salam Interantional Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste]. 2002. [COBISS.SI-ID 1480548]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Microscopic interactions and mesoscopic elasticity in flexible polyelectrolytes : [lecture given at University of California, Materials Research Laboratory, Santa Barbara]. 2002. [COBISS.SI-ID 1439332]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Order and interaction in high-density DNA assemblies : [lecture given at Syddansk Universitet, Fysisk Institut]. 2003. [COBISS.SI-ID 1665636]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Equation of state of DNA at high density : [presented at One-day Scientific meeting on Catonic-Anionic Self-assembly, Saclay]. 2002. [COBISS.SI-ID 1525860]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Order and interactions in highdensity DNA assemblies : [lecture given at Oberseminar der Sektion Physik un des Center for Nanoscience, München]. 2003. [COBISS.SI-ID 1712228]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Microscopic interactions and mesoscopic elasticity of DNA : [invited talk at 298. WE-Heraeus Seminar New Approaches and Perspectives in Polymer Physics, Bad Honnef, 2003]. 2003. [COBISS.SI-ID 1654628]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Two-body bridging interactions in hairy nucleosomal cor particles : [invited talk at Summer School and Workshop on Colloids and Biophysics, Odense, Denmark]. 2003. [COBISS.SI-ID 1683812]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Dipolar polyelectrolites and polyelectrolyte bridging interactions : [invited talk at APCTP Focus Program on Biophysics and Membranes, Pohang, Korea]. 2004. [COBISS.SI-ID 1726820]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Electrostatics : [lectures given at Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics 59 on Soft Condensed Matter Physics in Molecular and Cell Biology, Edinburgh, 29th March -8th April 2004. 2004. [COBISS.SI-ID 1732452]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Electrostatic bridging interactions in nucleosomal core particles : [invited talk at Interantional Conference From Solid State to Biophysics II, Cavtat, Dubrovnik]. 2004. [COBISS.SI-ID 1745508]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. DNA as a polyelectrolite : DNA condensation : [three lecture given at Third International Summer School on DNA and Chromodomes: Physical and Biological Approaches]. 2004. [COBISS.SI-ID 1760868]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Polyelectrolyte bridging interactions between nanoparticles : [lecture given at Lunds Universite, Lund]. 2004. [COBISS.SI-ID 1795172]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The physics of DNA : [lecture given at Texas A & M University, Department of Physics, Texas]. 2004. [COBISS.SI-ID 1775972]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The physics of DNA : [lecture given at University of Waterloo, Physics Department]. 2004. [COBISS.SI-ID 1775460]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Electrostatics : [lectures given at Scottish Universities Summer School in Physics 59 on Soft Condensed Matter Physics in Molecular and Cell Biology, Edinburgh, 29th March -8th April 2004.

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Electrostatic bridging interactions in nucleosomal core particles : [invited talk at Interantional Conference From Solid State to Biophysics II, Cavtat, Dubrovnik]. 2004. [COBISS.SI-ID 1745508]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. 50 years of the Lifshitz theory of van der Waals forces : [lecture given at MEMPHYS Center of Biomembrane Physics, Physics Department, University of Southern Denmark, Odense]. 2005. [COBISS.SI-ID 1871972]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Nanomechanics of viruses : [lecture given at Lunds Universitet, Deparment of Theoretical Chemistry, Lund]. 2005. [COBISS.SI-ID 1872228]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Nanomechanics of viruses : [lecture given at Österreichische Akademie der Wissenscahften, Institu für Biophysik und Röntgenstrukturforschung, Graz]. 2005. [COBISS.SI-ID 1873764]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The physics of DNA : [lecture given at IPST, Maryland]. 2005. [COBISS.SI-ID 1857124]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The physics of DNA : [invited talk at NES APS/APPT Fall 2005 Joint Meeting, University of Vermont]. 2005. [COBISS.SI-ID 1868900]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The physics of DNA : [lecture given at Institute for Physical Science and Technology, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, Maryland]. 2005. [COBISS.SI-ID 1857124]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The physics of DNA : [lecture given at University of the Pacific]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1898852]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The physics of DNA : [lecture given at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, Virginia]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1937508]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Quenched disorder and Coulomb interactions : [lecture given at Max Planck Institut für Polymerforschung, Mainz]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1908580]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. DNA order and packing in bulk solutions and in viral capsids : [lecture given at University of Maryland]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1941860] 228. PODGORNIK, Rudolf. 50 years of the Lifshitz theory of van der Waals forces : [lecture given at Physics Department of Technische Universität München]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1958244]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. DNA order and packing in bulk solutions and in viral capsids : [lecture given at University of Maryland]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1941860]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Osmotic loading of simple viruses : [lecture given at Physics Department of Technische Universität München]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1958500]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Quenched disorder and Coulomb interaction : [lecture given at Warwick Mathematics Institute]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1881700]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Dispersion interactions : a big picture and the fine print : [invited talk at ICEMS M12 Meeting, 3-5 August 2006, Imperial College London]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1931620]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Intermolecular forces : [inivted lecture at 37th Latin-American School of Physics 2006 at Universidade Estual Paulista, Sao Jose de Rio Preto]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1923172]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. A model of genome packing in simple viruses : presented at Chrismas Biophysics Workshop, 18 December, 2006, Zagreb, Croatia. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 20510503]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Polyelectrolyte bridging interactions between nanoparticles : [invcited talk at International Conference From Solid State to Biophysics III, June 24-July 1, 2006]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1918308]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Symmetry and interactions in DNA mesophases : [invited talk at 21st International Liquid Crystal Conference, Keystone, Colorado, July 2-7 2006]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1919332]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Quenched disorder and Coulomb interactions : [lecture given at Max Planck Institut für Polymerforschung, Mainz]. 2006. [COBISS.SI-ID 1908580]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The physics of DNA : [lecture given at Indian Institute of Science, Department of Physics, Bangalore, India]. 2007. [COBISS.SI-ID 1974884]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Nanomechanics of genome packing in simple viruses : [invited talk at Conference on Assembly, Organization and Propulsion in Complex Systems, Chennai, Madras, India]. 2007. [COBISS.SI-ID 1974628]

ODGORNIK, Rudolf. Molecular attractions : van der Waals, electrostatic correlations and polyelectrolyte bridging interactions : [invited talk at 2007 Taiwan International Workshop on Biological Physics and Complex Systems, Taipei]. 2007.

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The physics of DNA : [lecture given at National University of Singapore, Department of Physics]. 2007.

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The nature and characterization of order in high density DNA mesophases : [invited talk at European Polymer Congress 2007, Portorož]. 2007. [COBISS.SI-ID 1998436]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Electrodynamic and electrosttatic interactions at grain boundaries : [invited talk at E-MRS 2007 Spring Meeting, Strasbourg]. 2007. [COBISS.SI-ID 1991268]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Recent advances in the characterization of order in high density DNA mesophases : [lecture given at University of California, Department of Biomolecular Science and Engineering, Santa Barbara]. 2007. [COBISS.SI-ID 2004836]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Molecular attractions : van der Waals, electrostatic correlations and polyelectrolyte bridging interactions : [invited talk at an International School of Biomembrane Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India, 7-18 January 2008]. 2008. [COBISS.SI-ID 2041188]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Disorder effects in colloidal interactions : [lecture given at Lunds Universitet, Department of Theoretical Chemistry, Lund, 21. 5. 2008]. 2008. [COBISS.SI-ID 2088804]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The nature and characterization of order in high density DNA mesophases : [lecture given at Technical University Munich, Physics Department, 30. 5. 2008]. 2008. [COBISS.SI-ID 2089060]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Quenched disorder and Coulomb interactions : [lecture given at The Hebrew University, The Fritz Haber Research Center, Jerusalem 10. 4. 2008]. 2008. [COBISS.SI-ID 2063716]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Quenched disorder and Coulomb interactions : [invited talk at 33rd Conference of the Middle European Cooperation in Statistical Physics, 14-16 April 2008, Puchberg/Wels]. 2008. [COBISS.SI-ID 2075748]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Quenched disorder and Coulomb interactions : [invited talk at 4th Conference From Solid State to Biophysics, Cavtat, June 6-13, 2008]. 2008. [COBISS.SI-ID 2091364]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Fluctuation and correlation forces in Coulomb fluids : and overview : [lecture gives at Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara]. 2008. [COBISS.SI-ID 2120804]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Fluctuation forces between carbon nanotubes : [lecture gives at Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara]. 2008. [COBISS.SI-ID 2120548]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The nature and characterization of order in high density DNA mesophases : [lecture given at Brandies University, Department of Physics, Boston, October 28, 2008]. 2008. [COBISS.SI-ID 2130788]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The nature and characterization of order in high density DNA mesophases : [lecture given at Max Planck Institut for Polymer Research, Mainz, 18. 6. 2008]. 2008. [COBISS.SI-ID 2093156]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. van der Waals interactions between caron nanotubes : [lecture given at Universität Stuttgart, 17. 11. 2008]. 2008. [COBISS.SI-ID 2136420]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Molecular attractions : van der Waals, electrostatic, and bridging interactions : [lectures given at 3-em cycle de la Physique en Suisse Romande, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lousanne, 30 avril, 7, 14, 28 mai 2009]. 2009. [COBISS.SI-ID 2165604]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The nature and characterization of order in high density DNA mesophases : [lecture given at Université Paul Sabatier, Laboratoire de Physique Théorique, Toulouse, 21 april 2009]. 2009. [COBISS.SI-ID 2160484]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Generalization and remifications induced bycounterion structure in the strong and weak-coupling electrstatic interactions between macromolecules : [invited talk on Conference: From DNA-Inspired Physics to Physics-Inspired Biology, Trieste, 1-5 June 2009]. 2009. [COBISS.SI-ID 2167908]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The nature and characterization of order in high density DNA mesophases : [invited talk at International Conference for Materials in Advanced Technologies 2009, Symposium M: Symposium on DNA Nanoscience and Physics, Singapore 2009]. 2009. [COBISS.SI-ID 2173540]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Non-retarded and retarded van der Wals interactions between dielectric cylinders : [invited talk at 12th International Conference on Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy, Yale University, NewHaven, August 10-14, 2009]. 2009. [COBISS.SI-ID 2179428]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Biopolymer electrostatics : [invited talk at Workshop on Filamentous Assemblies: Complex Ordering from Biopolymers to Nano-rods, Aspen Center for Physics, Aspen, CO, 1 Aug. - 14 Sept., 2009]. 2009. [COBISS.SI-ID 2181988]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Effects of osmotic stress on DNA packing and capsid stability in simple viruses : [lecture given at Department of Physics and Astronomy, University od Missouri - St. Louis, 12. 2. 2010]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2216804]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Effects of osmotic stress on DNA packing and capsid stability in simple viruses : [lecture given at Department of Physics, Boston University, 19. 2. 2010]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2217060]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Effects of osmotic stress on DNA packing and capsid stability in simple viruses : [lecture given at Physics Department, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 21. 1. 2010]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2213476]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Electrostatic interactions between macromolecules in the week and strong coupling limit : [lecture given at Chemistry Department, University of Cambridge, 10. 3. 2010]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2218852]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Effects of osmotic stress on DNA packing and capsid stability in simple viruses : [lecture given at University of Masachussetts, 16. 9. 2010]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2264420]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Electrostatic interactions between macromolecules in the week and strong coupling limit : [lecture given at Chemistry Department, University of Cambridge, 10. 3. 2010]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2218852]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Non-retarded and retarded interactions between dielectric cylinders : carbon tubes : [lecture given at Institut za fiziku, Zagreb, 24. 3. 2010]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2222948]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Osmotic encapsidation of DNA : [invited talk at Coarse-Grain Mechanics of DNA: Bases to Chromosomes, June 1 to June 4, 2010, ENS-Lyon]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2248548]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The physics of DNA : [lecture given at University of Massachusetts, Physics Department, Amherst]. 2011. [COBISS.SI-ID 2304356]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Disorder effects in Casimir - van der Waals interactions : [invited talk at International Conference From Solid Statets to Biophysics V and From Physics to Life Science, June 12 - 19, 2010, Dubrovnik]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2255460]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Disorder effects in coulomb interactions : [plenar talk at International Workshop on Fluctuation-Induced Forces in Condensed Matter, 11-15 October 2010, Dresden]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2268260]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Disorder effects in van der Waals interactions : [invited talk at Workshop on Casimir, van der Waals and Nanoscale Interactions, École de Physique des Houches, 11-16 April 2010]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2239844]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Packing and consideration of DNA inside bacteriophage capsids : [invited talk at Conference on New Perspectives in Strongly Correlated Electrostatics in Soft Matter, avgust 22 to september 12, 2010, Aspen]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2260836]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Thermodynamics of nano-spheres encapsulated in virus capsids : [invited talk at APS March Meeting 2010, March 15-19, 2010, Portland]. 2010. [COBISS.SI-ID 2246244]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Protein-DNA interactions determine the shapes of DNA torids condensed in virus capsids : [invited talk at Physical Virology Gordon Research Conference, Ventura, 15-21 Januar, 2011. 2011. [COBISS.SI-ID 2299236]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Strong and weak-coupling electrostatic interaction between macromolecules : [invited talk at Soft Matter Days, 15th December to 16th December, 2011, Bordeaux]. 2011. [COBISS.SI-ID 2388836]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Fritz Haber Center, Hebrew University, 12 marec 2012: Protein-DNA interactions determine the shapes of DNA toroids condensed in virus capsids 

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Department of chemical engineering, Ben Gurion University, 15 marec 2012: Protein-DNA interactions determine the shapes of DNA toroids condensed in virus capsids 

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The Weizmann Institute, 18 marec 2021, Disorder effects in Coulomb Interactions 

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Physics Department, Tel Aviv University, 21 marec 2012: Protein-DNA interactions determine the shapes of DNA toroids condensed in virus capsids  

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Molecular attractions : electrostatic correlation interactions : [invited lecture at Long Range Interactions in Biomolecular Materials workshop, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, 8. 8. 2012]. 2012.

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Physics of DNA : [invited lecture at the annual summer school Soft Solids and Complex Fluids, University of Massachusetts, Physics Department, June 3, 2013]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2561380]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Physics of DNA : [invited lecture at the annual summer school Soft Solids and Complex Fluids, University of Massachusetts, Physics Department, June 4, 2013]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2561636]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Physics of DNA : [invited lecture at the annual summer school Soft Solids and Complex Fluids, University of Massachusetts, Physics Department, June 5, 2013]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2561892]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Physics of DNA : [invited lecture at the annual summer school Soft Solids and Complex Fluids, University of Massachusetts, Physics Department, June 6, 2013]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2562148]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Polyelectrolyte bridging : planar surfaces and spherical virus-like capsids : [invited lecture at Telluride Workshop on Polymer Physics, 16-20 June 2013, Telluride, USA]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2566244]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. DNA-protein interactions in virus-like nano-particles : [colloquium at Freie Universität Berlin, SFB 1112-Colloquium, 12. 12. 2013]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2625892]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Disorder and Coulomb interactions : [invited colloquium at Technische Universität Berlin, Eugene Wigner Colloquium, 5. 12. 2013]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2623588]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. The nature and characterization of order in high density DNA mesophases : [invited lecture at Technische Universität Berlin, 15. 11. 2013]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2613092]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Charge distribution and electrostatics of viral capsids : [invited lecture at Physical Concepts of Nucleic-Acid Structure and Behavior, Yerevan, Armenia, May 27-May29, 2013]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2560356]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Kirkwood-Schumaker forces and monopolar thermal Casimir interactions : [invited lecture at the Institut für Theoretische Physik, Freie Universität Berlin, 13. 11. 2013]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2616164]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Long-range interactions between DNA molecules : [invited lecture at Technische Universität Berlin, 14. 11. 2013]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2612836]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Order and energetics of nucleic acids in viral capsids. Part 1 : [keynote lecture at XX International Summer School "Nicolás Cabrera" Biomolecules and single molecule techniques, Madrid, 21-26 July 2013]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2570084]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Order and energetics of nucleic acids in viral capsids. Part 2 : [keynote lecture at XX International Summer School "Nicolás Cabrera" Biomolecules and single molecule techniques, Madrid, 21-26 July 2013]. 2013. [COBISS.SI-ID 2570340]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. A continuum description of polymer nematics. V: International Symposium on Polyelectrolytes, Ein Gedi, Israel, January 20-23, 2014 : from Basic Science to Biological Applications. Tel Aviv: Ortra, 2014. http://www.ortra.com/events/Portals/4/Rudi%20Podgornik.pdf. [COBISS.SI-ID 2635620]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Disorder effects and antifragility in Coulomb fluids. V: 9th Liquid Matter Conference, Liquids 2014, Lisbon, Portugal, 21-25 July 2014. LEAL, C. R. (ur.). Book of abstracts, (Europhysics Conference Abstracts, vol. 38A). [Mulhouse]: European Physical Society, 2014, str. 83. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19549178/Book%20of%20Abstracts.pdf. [COBISS.SI-ID 2702948]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Disroder, antifragility and Coulomb interactions : seminar at ESPCI, Physico-Chimie Théorique, Laboratoire Gulliver, Paris, 10. 4. 2014. 2014. [COBISS.SI-ID 2668132]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. DNA-protein interactions in virus-like nano-particles : seminar at the Gulliver laboratory, ESPCI Paristech, Paris, 7. 4. 2014. 2014. [COBISS.SI-ID 2667364]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Polymers pushing polymers. V: Nanofluidics in Physics and Biology, October 29, 2014 to October 31, 2014, Lausanne, Switzerland. Lausanne: CECAM, 2014. http://www.cecam.org/workshop-4-975.html?presentation_id=13118. [COBISS.SI-ID 2745700]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Surmounting and harnessing disorder in Coulomb fluids. V: Surmounting the Insurmountable : Pathways of Biological Physics : an International Conference, August 28 (Thu), 2014 - August 30 (Sat), 2014. Pohang: Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, 2014. https://www.apctp.org/plan.php/biostatphys/899. [COBISS.SI-ID 2721636]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Charge regulation and electrostatic interactions in proteins. Part 1 : lecture at ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR), Minischool on Biophysics of Protein Interactions, Sao Paulo Mar 6 - Mar 13, Brazil. 2015. [COBISS.SI-ID 2792804]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Charge regulation and electrostatic interactions in proteins. Part 2 : lecture at ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR), Minischool on Biophysics of Protein Interactions, Sao Paulo Mar 6 - Mar 13, Brazil. 2015. [COBISS.SI-ID 2793060]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Charge regulation and electrostatic interactions in proteins. Part 3 : lecture at ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR), Minischool on Biophysics of Protein Interactions, Sao Paulo Mar 6 - Mar 13, Brazil. 2015. [COBISS.SI-ID 2793316]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Charge regulation and electrostatic interactions in proteins. Part 4 : lecture at ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP-SAIFR), Minischool on Biophysics of Protein Interactions, Sao Paulo Mar 6 - Mar 13, Brazil. 2015. [COBISS.SI-ID 2793572]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Charge distribution and charge regulation of viral shells : invited lecture at Physics and Mathematics of Viral Assembly, Aspen center of physics, Aspen, June 17, 2015. 2015. [COBISS.SI-ID 2823268]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Disorder effects and antifragility in coulomb fluids : invited colloquium at Drexel University College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Physics, Philadelphia, 5. 2. 2015. 2015. [COBISS.SI-ID 2786660]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Electrostatics goes viral : invited lecture at ESPCI Paris Tech, 21. 5. 2015. 2015. [COBISS.SI-ID 2812516]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Electrostatics goes viral : invited lecture at Tel Aviv University, Faculty of Exact Sciences, 6. 5. 2015. 2015. [COBISS.SI-ID 2806116]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Viral electrostatics : invited lecture at 2015 RNA Workshop, SISSA, Trieste, Italy, 5. 6. 2015. 2015. [COBISS.SI-ID 2816868]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Charge regulation and Kirkwood-Shumaker interactions at interfaces with dissociable charged groups : lecture at the workshop Soft matter at interfaces 2016, 28 February-2 March 2016, Ringberg Castle, Kreuth, Germany. [COBISS.SI-ID 2933092]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Electrostatics goes viral : invited colloquium at Università degli Studi di Trieste, Dipartimento di Fisica, Trieste, Jan 14, 2016. [COBISS.SI-ID 2915940]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Physics and viruses : invited lecture at Shenzhen University, Institute for Advanced Study, Shenzhen, China, 29. 4. 2016. [COBISS.SI-ID 2952548]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Polymers pushing polymers: polymer mixtures in thermodynamic equilibrium with nanopores : invited lecture at Tel Aviv University, Department of Physics, 16. 3. 2016. [COBISS.SI-ID 2941540]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Secondary Casimir effect in fluctuation hydrodynamics. V: Casimir and van der Waals Physics: Progress and Prospects, 25-28 Apr 2016, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Hong Kong, China. Hong Kong: University of science and technology, 2016. http://iasprogram.ust.hk/201604casimir/doc/Abs_Rudolf%20Podgornik.pdf. [COBISS.SI-ID 2952292]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Viral electrostatics : invited lecture at University of California, Merced, School of Natural Sciences, February 19, 2016. [COBISS.SI-ID 2928228]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Viral electrostatics : invited lecture at University of Stuttgart, Institute for Computational Physics, 14. 4. 2016. [COBISS.SI-ID 2948708]

PODGORNIK, Rudolf. Viral electrostatics : seminar at Universita' Ca' Foscari Venezia, Dipartimento di Scienze Molecolari e Nanosistemi, Venezia, Italy, 31. 3. 2016. [COBISS.SI-ID 2947172]



Outstanding achievements:


Among the scientific achievements of Dr. Podgornik the following represent major advances in their respective fields:


Dr. Podgornik published an invited News & Views paper for the most prestigious science journal Nature:  R. Podgornik, DNA off the Hooke, Nature (Nanotechnology) 1, pp.100-101 (2006).


Dr. Podgornik is one of the co-editors of the book: Electrostatic Effects in Soft Matter and Biophysics, Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute, Les Houches, France, 1-13 October 2000, edited by Christian Holm Patrick Kekicheff and Rudolf Podgornik (2001).


Dr. Podgornik is one of the co-authors of a chapter (Molecular Interactions in Lipids, DNA, and DNA-Lipid Complexes Rudolf Podgornik, D. Harries, H.H. Strey, and V.A. Parsegian) in the well known textbook on gene therapy Gene and Cell Therapy: Therapeutic Mechanisms and Strategies by Nancy Smyth Templeton (Editor), that has now been published in its second edition (2004).


Dr. Podgornik is one of the co-authors of the article Universal Thermal Radiation Drag on Neutral Objects by Vanik Mkrtchian, Adrian V. Parsegian, Rudi Podgornik, Wayne M. Saslow,   Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 220801 (issue of 28 November 2003), which was featured in the Physical Review Focus story on 5 December 2003.


D.D. Lasic, H.H. Strey, M.C.A. Stuart, R. Podgornik and P.M. Frederik: DNA - Liposome complexes: Structure and Structure Activity Relationship,  J. Amer. Chem. Soc. 119,832-833 (1997).  This article represents a major advance in understanding the structure of genosomes in connection with gene therapy. The authors have used small angle X-ray scattering to elucidate the structure of DNA - cationic lipid complexes used in transfection. The paper has 229 citations.


Podgornik, D. C. Rau, V. A. Parsegian: The action of interhelical forces on the organization of DNA double helices: Fluctuation- enhanced decay of electrostatic double layer and hydration forces, Macromolecules 22, 1780-1786 (1989). A fundamental paper that for the first time presents data on the interactions in DNA arrays at low enough densities so that the effect of screened electrostatic repulsions can be seen directly. It is seen that the measured osmotic pressure does not conform to the expectations. It is shown that DNA conformational fluctuations fundamentally modify the DNA equation of state. The paper has been cited 103 times.


Podgornik:  Electrostatic correlation forces between surfaces with surface specific ionic interaction, Chem. Phys.  91, 5840-5849 (1989). A groundbreaking paper in the theory of electrostatic fluctuation forces. The magnitude of this force is estimated to be above the van der Waals force and it is shown in what circumstances it could dominate all the other interactions in coulomb fluids. The theory is applied to the long range hydrophobic force. The paper has been cited 93 times.


Podgornik and V.A. Parsegian: Charge fluctuation forces between stiff polyelectrolytes in salt solution: pairwise summability reexamined, Phys.Rev.Lett. 80 (1998) 1560-1563. A groundbreaking paper showing that counterion fluctuations can give an appreciable effect in DNA-DNA interactions. It also shows tha tthese interactions are fundamentaly pairwise non-additive. The paper was cited 91 times.


Podgornik, D.C. Rau and Parsegian V.A.: Parameterization of direct and soft steric undulatory forces .... A fundamental paper on fluctuation enhanced forces in membrane arrays. It is shown how the fluctuations enhance the underlying electrostatic repulsion and attractive van der Waals forces. The paper has been cited 88 times.

  1. R.

The paper "Electrical Conduction in Native Deoxyribonucleic Acid: Hole Hopping Transfer Mechanism?",  by Kutnjak, Filipic, Podgornik, Nordenskiold and Korolev, published in Physical Review Letters 90, 098101 (2003), has been selected for the March 15, 2003 issue of the Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research. The Virtual Journal is an edited compilation of links to articles from participating publishers, covering a focused area of frontier research, edited by Bob Austin.


The paper "On a reformulation of the theory of Lifshitz--van der Waals interactions in multilayered systems", published in The Journal of Chemical Physics 119, 1070 (2003), has been selected for the July 7, 2003 issue of the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology.  The Virtual Journal is an edited compilation of links to articles from participating publishers, covering a focused area of frontier research. David Awschalom, Editor.


Article, "Nonadditivity in van der Waals interactions within multilayers," published in The Journal of Chemical Physics 124, 044709 (2006), has been selected for the February 1, 2006 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research. The Virtual Journal, which is published by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics in cooperation with numerous other societies and publishers, is an edited compilation of links to articles from participating publishers, covering a focused area of frontier research. Robert H. Austin, Editor.


Article, "Ion induced lamellar-lamellar phase transition in charged surfactant systems," published in The Journal of Chemical Physics 124, 224702 (2006), has been selected for the June 15, 2006 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.  The Virtual Journal, which is published by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics in cooperation with numerous other societies and publishers, is an edited compilation of links to articles from participating publishers, covering a focused area of frontier research.  You can access the Virtual Journal at http://www.vjbio. Robert H. Austin, Editor.


Article Electrical conduction in  macroscopically oriented  deoxyribonucleic and hyaluronic acid  samples  by Zdravko Kutnjak, Gojmir Lahajnar, Cene  Filipič, Rudolf Podgornik, Lars  Nordenskiˆld, Nikolay Korolev, and Allan  Rupprecht  Was featured in  THE BIOLOGICAL PHYSICIST , The Newsletter of the Division of Biological Physics of the American Physical Society  Vol 5 No 2 June 2005 .


Article, "Dielectric relaxation of DNA aqueous solutions," published in Physical Review E 75, 021905 (2007), has been selected for the February 15, 2007 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, which is published by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics.


Article, "Screwlike order, macroscopic chirality, and elastic distortions in high-density DNA mesophases," published in Physical Review E 75, 030901 (2007), has been selected for the March 15, 2007 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, which is published by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics.


Article, "van der Waals--London dispersion interactions for optically anisotropic cylinders: Metallic and semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes," published in Physical Review B 76, 045417 (2007), has been selected for the July 30, 2007 issue of Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, which is published by the American Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society. The same article has been also selected for the August 1, 2007 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.  The Virtual Journal, which is published by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics in cooperation with numerous other societies and publishers, is an edited compilation of links to articles from participating publishers, covering a focused area of frontier research.


Article, "Role of electrostatic interactions in the assembly of empty spherical viral capsids," published in Physical Review E 76, 061906 (2007), has been selected for the December 15, 2007 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.  The Virtual Journal, which is published by the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics in cooperation with numerous other societies and publishers, is an edited compilation of links to articles from participating publishers, covering a focused area of frontier research.


Article "Packing nanomechanics of viral genomes" by Siber, Dragar, Parsegian and Podgornik published in the Eur Physics J E (2008) has been shortlisted for presentation in the 'Hightlight' section of Europhysics News.


Article, "Spectral mixing formulations for van der Waals--London dispersion interactions between multicomponent carbon nanotubes," published in Journal of Applied Physics 104, 053513 (2008), has been selected for the September 22, 2008 issue of Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology.


Article, "Strong-Coupling Electrostatics in the Presence of Dielectric Inhomogeneities," published in Physical Review Letters 101, 188101 (2008), has been selected for the November 1, 2008 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.


Article, "Stability of elastic icosadeltahedral shells under uniform external pressure: Application to viruses under osmotic pressure," published in Physical Review E 79, 011919 (2009), has been selected for the February 1, 2009 issue of Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research.


Article, "Dispersion interactions between optically anisotropic cylinders at all separations: Retardation effects for insulating and semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes," published in Physical Review B 80, 165414 (2009), has been selected for the November 2, 2009 issue of Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology.  


Article “Perspective: Coulomb fluids -- weak coupling, strong coupling, in between and beyond” (J. Chem. Phys. 139, 150901 2013) became part of the prestigious Spotlight Collections of this journal and graphics from that paper also landed on the cover of the journal as well as being the featured paper for that issue. The Spotlight Collections, is composed of invited perspective articles on topics currently generating a great deal of interest in the chemical physics community along with the seminal articles they reference. These collections provide a resource for young scientists starting in new areas of research and established scientists exploring emerging areas of research.


Article Asymmetric Coulomb fluids at randomly charged dielectric interfaces: Anti-fragility, overcharging and charge inversion was featured in an Nov 4 2014 AIP press release: “Disorder + Disorder = More Disorder? According to new paper in "The Journal of Chemical Physics," adding a disordered boundary to an already disordered charged fluid can have a counterintuitive effect: lowering the overall disorder of the system”.


Article: Antipolar and Anticlinic Mesophase Order in Chromatin Induced by Nucleosome Polarity and Chirality Correlations on “How order in chromatin arises from symmetries of nucleosome-DNA interaction” was marked as  Editors' Suggestion in the Physical Review Letters volume 114.


Article:  van der Waals Interactions at the Mesoscale: Open-Science Implementation, Anisotropy, Retardation, and Solvent Effects was featured on the 26 sep 2015 cover of Langmuir, as well as in several science news portals.


Article: Quantitative nanoscale electrostatics of viruses, was featured on the Volume7 Number 41 7 November 2015 cover of Nanoscale.



Article:  Ion-mediated interactions between net-neutral slabs: Weak and strong disorder effects was featured on the cover of the Journal of Chemical Physics, Volume 143, Issue 23, 21 December 2015.


Honorable citations:


The work of Dr. Podgornik has not been noted only in strictly professional journals belonging to his field but has also been presented to a broader audience in different journals. His contributions to science have been specifically highlighted in:


  1. • Chemical and Engineering News, Feb. 3 (1997), page 32

  2. • Chemistry and Industry, Feb. 17 (1997), page 123

  3. • APS Virtual Pressroom, press release at the 1996 APS meeting

  4. • Science News, 151 (1997), page 256

  5. • Nature, News and Views, 375 (1995), pages 356-357

  6. • Physics World, May (2000) 3,  a UK journal run by the IOP (Institute of Physics)

  7. • Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, March 15, 2003.

  8. • Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, July 7, 2003

  9. • Article about my work in the biggest Slovenian daily Delo, section Science 2003 (3), page 13. [COBISS.SI-ID 1655396]

  10. • Article about my work in the biggest Slovenian weekly Nasi Razgledi,  1999 page 21.

  11. • Physical Review Focus dedicates an article  (“Photons are a drag” 5 dec 2003) to the work of Dr. Podgornik and colleagues.

  12. • Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research. September 15, 2004.

  13. • Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, April 15, 2005.

  14. • Slovenian daily “Vecer” publishes an interview with Dr. Podgornik. April 22, 2005. [COBISS.SI-ID 1821796]

  15. • THE BIOLOGICAL PHYSICIST, Vol 5 No 2 June 2005 .

  16. • Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, February 1, 2006.

  17. • Nature Nanotechnology publishes an invited “News and Views” paper written by Dr. Podgornik entitled “DNA off the Hooke” (2006).

  18. • A popular science lecture “Physics of viruses” at the “Scientific Evenings” organized by the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia at Zemono on Nov. 9 2006.

  19. • Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, February 15, 2007.

  20. • Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, March 15, 2007.

  21. • Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology, July 30, 2007.

  22. • Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, August 1, 2007.

  23. • Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, December 15, 2007.

  24. • Europhysics News publishes a blurb about my work in the July-August issue, 2008.

  25. • Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, February 1, 2009.

  26. • On July 16 2009 the research group of prof. Podgornik was featured as This Month's Featured Research Group on the Soft Matter World WEB page. Soft Matter World is the foremost WEB resource for soft matter physics.

  27. • A figure from the paper A. Erbaş, R. Podgornik and R.R. Netz,  Viscous compressible hydrodynamics at planes, spheres and cylinders with finite surface slip, Eur. Phys. J. E 32 2 (2010) 147-164. ends up on the cover of EPJE.

  28. • EuroPhysics Letters Distinguished Referee in 2011.

  29. • The article Antonio Siber, Anze Losdorfer Bozic and Rudolf Podgornik, Energies and pressures in viruses: contribution of nonspecific electrostatic interactions, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2012, 14, 3746–3765. ended up on the cover of PCCP.

  30. • The article Ali Naji, Jalal Sarabadani, David S. Dean, Rudolf Podgornik, Sample-to-sample torque fluctuations in a system of coaxial randomly charged surfaces, Eur. Phys. J. E (2012) 35: 24 was featured on the Physics News, Science Daily, Nanowerk, Springer News etc.

  31. • In 2011 he was recognized as a “distinguished referee”  by the European Physical Society (EPS) on behalf of the EPL journal.

  32. • In 2013 two papers with prof. Podgornik of the F-1 department as the coauthor, have been recently named as "Editor's  choice" papers. The first one with the title "Wrapping transition and wrapping-mediated interactions for discrete binding along an  elastic filament: An exact solution", by David S. Dean, Thomas C. Hammant, Ronald R. Horgan, Ali Naji, and Rudolf Podgornik (http://jcp.aip.org/ec2012 ) by The Journal of Chemical Physics Editors' Choice for 2012 and the second one  with the title "Interaction of a point charge with the surface of a uniaxial dielectric", by Primož Rebernik  Ribič and Rudolf Podgornik (http://iopscience.iop.org/0295-5075/102/2/24001/article) by the Europhysics Letters 

  33. • In 2013 Journal of chemical physics features and interview with him as the senior author, by Melissa Patterson of the AIP, on the occasion of the publication of his review paper “Perspective: Coulomb fluids -- weak coupling, strong coupling, in between and beyond” (J. Chem. Phys. 139, 150901 2013) that became part of the prestigious Spotlight Collections of this journal and graphics from that paper also landed on the cover of the journal as well as being the featured paper for that issue. The Spotlight Collections, is composed of invited perspective articles on topics currently generating a great deal of interest in the chemical physics community along with the seminal articles they reference. These collections provide a resource for young scientists starting in new areas of research and established scientists exploring emerging areas of research. This paper has been also identified on the list of the JCP Most Read in November 2013.

  34. • In 2014 figure from our paper F. Karimi Pour Hadadan et al., J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 26 (2014) 075103 ended up on the cover of  Volume 26 Number 7 19 February 2014 of the J. Phys.: Condens. Matter.

  35. • The Editors of The Journal of Chemical Physics have selected a few notable JCP articles that represent the most innovative and influential articles of 2013.  The paper “Perspective: Coulomb fluids -- weak coupling, strong coupling, in between and beyond” (J. Chem. Phys. 139, 150901 2013) has been chosen to be included in the 2013 JCP Editors’ Choice collection.  The collection is  available on the JCP website: http://scitation.aip.org/content/jcp-editors--choice-for-2013.  The articles will be freely available until the end of 2014.

  36. • In 2014 our paper Ali Naji, Malihe Ghodrat, Haniyeh Komaie-Moghaddam, Rudolf Podgornik, Asymmetric Coulomb fluids at randomly charged dielectric interfaces: Anti-fragility, overcharging and charge inversion, J. Chem. Phys. 141 174704 (2014) was featured in an AIP press release entitled “Disorder + Disorder = More Disorder?” that stated “According to new paper in "The Journal of Chemical Physics," adding a disordered boundary to an already disordered charged fluid can have a counterintuitive effect: lowering the overall disorder of the system”. The press release was later quoted by many science news sources (sciencedaily, scikon, esciencenews, ...) and even by an article in the Financial Times.

  37. • In 2015 a graphics from our paper Luca Tubiana, Anže Lošdorfer Božič, Cristian Micheletti, and Rudolf Podgornik, Synonymous mutations reduce genome compactness in icosahedral ssRNA viruses, Biophys. J. 180 194-202 (2014)  was featured on the cover of the Biophysical Journal and as a blog post on phys.org.

  38. • In 2015 graphics from articles:  van der Waals Interactions at the Mesoscale: Open-Science Implementation, Anisotropy, Retardation, and Solvent Effects and: Quantitative nanoscale electrostatics of viruses, were featured on the covers of Langmuir and Nanoscale.

  39. • Since 2012 I have been the member of the ERC panel on ERC Starting Grants.

  40. • An image from our work was featured on Biomedical Picture of the Day.

  41. • Our review on the materials aspects of the Casimir/van der Waals interaction was featured in NATURE MATERIALS | NEWS AND VIEWS Material witness: Materials touch across the void.


Over the years Dr. Podgornik has served as a reviewer to the following journals: Physical Review Letters, PRL highlights, Physical Review E, Biophysical Journal, Langmuir, Macromolecules, Journal of Chemical Physics and a reviewer for the NSF, ISTC (The International Science and Technology Center is an organization dedicated to the support of ex-Soviet weapons scientists as they make the transition to non-weapons work), Ministry of Science and Technology of Italy, Ministry of Science and Technology of Netherlands and NIST. He has also served as a book reviewer for the Journal of Statistical Physics.


Current Research Interests:


Packing of DNA in viruses, chromatin  and general behavior of biologically relevant polyelectrolytes in confined  spaces. Theory of N-tail bridging interactios in dilute nucleosome core solutions and their connection with the anomalous behavior of the second virial coefficient. Theory of structure and order in high density nucleosome  core mesophases. Connection between the symmetry of nuclosome core interactions with the symmetry and order of the mesophases.


Direct    measurement   of   intermolecular   forces    between  macromolecules through a combination of osmotic stress and  x-ray  scattering, in particular the statistical-mechanical basis of the  fluctuation  enhanced  electrostatic repulsion  between  the  DNA  helices.


Theoretical investigations of the statistical - mechanical basis of the Poisson - Boltzmann equation and possible generalizations of the same that would include correlation contributions to the interaction free energy as well as self consistent inclusion of polymer degrees of freedom.


Theoretical investigations of the consequences that addition of polyelctrolyte chains would have on the interactions between macroscopic charged surfaces. Mean - field theories of charged polymeric chains between charged surfaces. Conformational properties of charged  polymeric chains in confined regions. Stability properties of colloids in the presence of charged polymeric chains.


The influence of the polymer adsorption on the mechanical properties of the adsorbing unrestrained surfaces. The changes in the mechanical parameters such as surface tension, curvature elastic constant and spontaneous curvature of fluid surfaces on addition of polymeric chains that interact with the surface.