ELFT HÍRADÓ

[Andras Kaposi <kaposi AT puskin.sote.hu>]

Kedves Érdeklődők!

Különlegesnek ígérkező előadásra invitálom Önöket!

Gerald H. Pollack, a University of Washington professzora tart
előadást intézetünkben. Előadásában a triviálisnak tűnő víz élő
sejtben betöltött nem triviális, sőt, különleges szerepéről fog
beszélni. Előadásának címe:

"Water, Energy and Life: Fresh Views from the Water's Edge"

Időpont: 2009. május 18, hétfő, 14:00
Helyszín: Semmelweis Egyetem Elméleti Orvostudományi Központ (Tűzoltó
u. 37-47), Hári terem (I. emelet)

Pollack professzor előadás- és életrajzi kivonata alul olvasható.
Az előadás után frissítők kíséretében kötetlen
beszélgetésre adódik lehetőség Pollack professzorral.

Mindenkit nagy szeretettel várunk!

Dr. Kellermayer Miklós
Igazgató, Biofizikai és Sugárbiológiai Intézet



Water, Energy and Life: Fresh Views from the Water’s Edge

Gerald H. Pollack, PhD
Professor of Bioengineering
University of Washington
ghp AT u.washington.edu

The impact of surfaces on the contiguous aqueous phase is generally
thought to extend no more than a few water-molecule layers. We find,
however, that colloidal and molecular solutes are profoundly excluded
from the vicinity of hydrophilic surfaces, to distances typically
several hundred micrometers. Such large exclusion zones have been
observed next to many different hydrophilic surfaces, and many diverse
solutes are excluded. Hence, the exclusion phenomenon appears to be
quite general.
To test whether the physical properties of the exclusion zone differ
from those of bulk water, several methods have been applied. NMR,
infrared, and birefringence imaging, as well as measurements of
electrical potential, viscosity, and UV-VIS absorption spectra,
collectively reveal that the solute-free zone is a physically
distinct, ordered phase of water. It can co-exist essentially
indefinitely with the contiguous solute-containing phase. Indeed,
this unexpectedly extensive zone may be a candidate for the
long-postulated “fourth phase” of water considered by Szent-Gyorgyi
and others.
The energy responsible for building this charged, low entropy zone
comes from light. We found that incident radiant energy including all
visible and near-infrared wavelengths induce exclusion-zone growth in
a spectrally sensitive manner. IR is particularly effective.
Five-minute exposure to LED radiation at 3.1 µm (corresponding to OH
stretch) causes exclusion-zone-width increase up to three times.
Apparently, incident photons cause some change in bulk water that
predisposes constituent molecules to reorganize and build the charged,
ordered exclusion zone.
Photons from ordinary sunlight, then, may have an unexpectedly
powerful effect that goes beyond mere heating. It may be that solar
energy builds order and separates charge between the near-surface
exclusion zone and the bulk water beyond — the separation effectively
creating a battery. The resemblance to photosynthesis is evident.
Indeed, this light-induced action would seem relevant not only for
photosynthesis, but also for all realms of nature and engineering
involving water and interfaces, and particularly for biology, where
much or all of the cell’s water may be structured. The implications
are amply discussed in
http://uwtv.org/programs/displayevent.aspx?rID=22222 and
http://www.i-sis.org.uk/liquidCrystallineWater.php and will be
presented at the lecture.

Gerald Pollack received his doctorate in biomedical engineering from
the University of Pennsylvania. He joined the University of Washington
faculty in 1968 and is now professor of Bioengineering. His interests
have ranged broadly, from biological motion and cell biology to the
interaction of biological surfaces with aqueous solutions. His 1990
book, Muscles and Molecules: Uncovering the Principles of Biological
Motion, won an “Excellence Award” from the Society for Technical
Communication; his more recent book, Cells, Gels and the Engines of
Life, won that society’s “Distinguished Award.” Pollack received an
honorary doctorate in 2002 from Ural State University in Ekaterinburg,
Russia, and was more recently named an Honorary Professor by the
Russian Academy of Sciences. He received the Biomedical Engineering
Society’s highest honor, the Distinguished Lecturer Award, in 2002.
More recently, he was selected among all University of Washington
faculty members to receive the faculty’s highest distinction: the
2007-2008 Annual Faculty Lecturer Award. Pollack is a Founding Fellow
of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering and a
Fellow of both the American Heart Association and the Biomedical
Engineering Society. He is founding editor of the new journal, WATER.