Symposium on Women in Physics​: Networking, Innovation, Opportunity and Equity (SWPNIOE)

Session

Soft Matter, Applied Physics and Sustainable Energy Technologies

11 Sept 2026, 14:30

G210 B (Chair - Supriya Sabbani)

59. Topology driven mixing of knots in DNA

Garima Mishra (Ashoka University)

11/09/2026, 14:30

At high salt concentrations and elevated temperatures, the persistence length of DNA decreases, increasing its conformational flexibility. Under such conditions, sufficiently long DNA molecules can accommodate multiple knots along the same contour. Using coarse-grained simulations, we investigate how two knots interact and reorganize under applied tension. We consider pairs of identical knots,...

60. Advanced Nanostructured Electrode Materials for Sustainable Energy Conversion and Storage

Debosmita Banerjee (UPES)

11/09/2026, 14:50

The growing demand for sustainable energy technologies has accelerated the development of electrochemical energy conversion and storage systems capable of supporting a clean energy future. Efficient technologies for energy generation, conversion, and storage—including hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), water splitting, zinc-
ion batteries, metal-air batteries,...

61. Active Control of Polymer Structure, Transport, and Topology through Localized Forces

Snigdha Thakur (IISER Bhopal)

11/09/2026, 15:10

Active forces provide a powerful means of controlling the structure and dynamics of soft and biological polymers. In this talk, I will discuss our recent work on how the spatial organization of activity controls polymer conformation, mechanics, transport, and topology. We first consider active polymers with distributed propulsion, where the interplay between activity and polymer connectivity...