DPD Simulation of a Membrane

Description: This project will work toward the simulation of a cell membrane using a type of molecular dynamics known as Dissipative Particle Dynamics (DPD). In the first week, we will implement a basic molecular dynamics simulator in C++, probably in 2D, to learn about the inner workings of particle-based simulators. In the second week, we will learn about the DPD method and how to implement it in LAMMPS, a DOE-funded software package for molecular dynamics. We will use LAMMPS to simulate a cell membrane and get some nice 3D visuals. Time permitting, we can explore some more involved things like how the membrane moves when subject to a force from polymerization of a rigid polymer network, or how it flexes if the membrane is pinned at certain points. You can see what these sorts of simulations look like in this YouTube video.