Dr Richard Sear
Senior Lecturer
Email: r.sear@surrey.ac.uk
Phone: Work: 01483 68 6793
Room no: 10 BB 03
Further information
Biography
I started my scientific career with a 6-year stint in Sheffield. Both my BSc (Chemical Physics) and my PhD are from the University of Sheffield. I did my PhD with George Jackson, then of the Department of Chemistry of the University of Sheffield, now of Imperial College. After my PhD I did 1 2-year postdoc in AMOLF (Amsterdam) with Bela Mulder and Daan Frenkel, and an 11-month postdoc in UCLA (University of California Los Angeles) with Bill Gelbart and Jim Heath. I was appointed a lecturer here at Surrey in 1998. During my time here, I have been admissions tutor (ug) for 4 years, and now have web, blogging and general marketing responsibilities. I have mostly taught maths, computing and stat mech.
I am a theoretical (well really more of a computational) physicist with a stat mech of soft matter and liquids background. I did things like liquids and liquid-crystal phase behaviour for my PhD with George. In Amsterdam I also worked on phase behaviour but there mostly on understanding the phase behaviour of colloids. From Daan and his group I also picked up an interest in protein crystallisation and in nucleation. Nucleation is how first-order phase teansitions such as crystallisation start. At UCLA I tried to understand experimental data obtaned by Jim Heath's group on the self-assembly of nanoparticles at the air-water interface.
In my 12 years at Surrey I have moved into studying nucleation, in recent years particularly of crystals, and into biological physics. I have modelled both cell signalling and proteins that appear to phase separate in living cells. Recent work has focussed on the dynamics of proteins inside cells.
In 2010 2 PhD students of mine successfully viva-ed: Piyapong Asanithi, who worked on applications of carbon nanotubes, e.g., to protein crystallisation, and Amanda Page, who studied the nucleation of crystals via computer simulation. My h-index is 21.
Although I have lived my adult life in England (and the Netherlands/USA) I grew up in South Wales. My local rugby team is the Ospreys.
Research Interests
These are quite broad. I am a theoretical physicist/physical chemist by training. Most of my theoretical work is either on the computer simulation of the nucleation (mainly of crystal phases), or theoretical biological physics (mainly signalling processes inside cells, diffusion/transport inside cells or spatial organisation of ce
See my research webpage for further details of my research.
Research Collaborations
Within the department I work extensively with Prof Joe Keddie. I also collaborate with Prof Simon Hughes, a biologist at KCL.
Publications
Highlights
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(2010) 'Design Principles for Broad-Spectrum Protein-Crystal Nucleants with Nanoscale Pits'. AMER PHYSICAL SOC PHYS REV LETT, 105 (20) Article number 205501 Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7328/
- .
(2009) 'Crystallization Controlled by the Geometry of a Surface'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC J AM CHEM SOC, 131 (48), pp. 17550-17551.doi: 10.1021/ja9085512
- .
(2009) 'Freezing in the bulk controlled by prefreezing at a surface'. AMER PHYSICAL SOC PHYS REV E, 80 (3) Article number 031605 Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7404/
- . (2007) 'Nucleation at contact lines where fluid-fluid interfaces meet solid surfaces'. IOP PUBLISHING LTD J PHYS-CONDENS MAT, 19 (46) Article number 466106
Journal articles
- . (2011) 'Non-self-averaging nucleation rate due to quenched disorder.'. J Phys Condens Matter, England: 24 (5)
- .
(2011) 'Aligned, isotropic and patterned carbon nanotube substrates that control the growth and alignment of Chinese hamster ovary cells.'. Institute of Physics Nanotechnology, England: 22 (20)Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7606/
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(2011) 'Studying Smad2 intranuclear diffusion dynamics by mathematical modelling of FRAP experiments.'. RSC Publishing Integr Biol (Camb), England: 3 (3), pp. 197-207.doi: 10.1039/c0ib00098a
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(2011) 'Crystal nucleation: In a tight corner.'. Nat Mater, England: 10 (11), pp. 809-810.doi: 10.1038/nmat3157
- .
(2010) 'Design Principles for Broad-Spectrum Protein-Crystal Nucleants with Nanoscale Pits'. AMER PHYSICAL SOC PHYS REV LETT, 105 (20) Article number 205501 Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7328/
- .
(2010) 'Cell adhesion on nanopatterned fibronectin substrates'. ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY SOFT MATTER, 6 (21), pp. 5408-5416.doi: 10.1039/c0sm00201aFull text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7160/
- . (2010) 'Colloid-Assisted Self-Assembly of Robust, Three-Dimensional Networks of Carbon Nanotubes over Large Areas'. WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH MACROMOL RAPID COMM, 31 (7), pp. 609-615.
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(2010) 'Adhesion of microorganisms to bovine submaxillary mucin coatings: effect of coating deposition conditions'. TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD BIOFOULING, 26 (4), pp. 387-397.Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7163/
- .
(2009) 'Crystallization Controlled by the Geometry of a Surface'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC J AM CHEM SOC, 131 (48), pp. 17550-17551.doi: 10.1021/ja9085512
- .
(2009) 'Freezing in the bulk controlled by prefreezing at a surface'. AMER PHYSICAL SOC PHYS REV E, 80 (3) Article number 031605 Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7404/
- .
(2009) 'Nucleation via an unstable intermediate phase'. AMER INST PHYSICS J CHEM PHYS, 131 (7) Article number 074702 doi: 10.1063/1.3205030Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7607/
- . (2009) 'Statistical mechanics of convergent evolution in spatial patterning'. NATL ACAD SCIENCES P NATL ACAD SCI USA, 106 (24), pp. 9564-9569.
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(2009) 'Carbon-Nanotube-Based Materials for Protein Crystallization'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC ACS APPL MATER INTER, 1 (6), pp. 1203-1210.doi: 10.1021/am9000858
- . (2008) 'MATERIALS SCIENCE Now You See Them'. AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE SCIENCE, 322 (5909), pp. 1802-1803.
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(2008) 'Two-step vapor-crystal nucleation close below triple point'. AMER INST PHYSICS J CHEM PHYS, 129 (20) Article number 204505 doi: 10.1063/1.3026364
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(2008) 'Continuity of the nucleation of bulk and surface phases'. AMER INST PHYSICS J CHEM PHYS, 129 (16) Article number 164510 doi: 10.1063/1.2992160Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/228/
- . (2008) 'Nucleation of a liquid on aerosol nanoparticles'. EDP SCIENCES EPL-EUROPHYS LETT, 83 (6) Article number 66002 , pp. 1-6.
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(2008) 'Nucleation in the presence of slow microscopic dynamics'. AMER INST PHYSICS J CHEM PHYS, 128 (21) Article number 214513 doi: 10.1063/1.2928844Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/341/
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(2008) 'Phase separation of equilibrium polymers of proteins in living cells'. ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY FARADAY DISCUSS, 139, pp. 21-34.doi: 10.1039/b713076g
- . (2007) 'Nucleation at contact lines where fluid-fluid interfaces meet solid surfaces'. IOP PUBLISHING LTD J PHYS-CONDENS MAT, 19 (46) Article number 466106
- . (2007) 'Influence of the colloidal stability of latex particles on their distribution in drying films'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC ABSTR PAP AM CHEM S, 234
- . (2007) 'Nucleation: theory and applications to protein solutions and colloidal suspensions'. IOP PUBLISHING LTD J PHYS-CONDENS MAT, 19 (3) Article number 033101
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(2007) 'Dishevelled: a protein that functions in living cells by phase separating'. ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY SOFT MATTER, 3 (6), pp. 680-684.doi: 10.1039/b618126k
- . (2006) 'Modeling dual pathways for the metazoan spindle assembly checkpoint'. NATL ACAD SCIENCES P NATL ACAD SCI USA, 103 (45), pp. 16758-16763.
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(2006) 'On the interpretation of quantitative experimental data on nucleation rates using classical nucleation theory'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC J PHYS CHEM B, 110 (43), pp. 21944-21949.doi: 10.1021/jp064692a
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(2006) 'Heterogeneous nucleation in and out of pores'. AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOC PHYS REV LETT, 97 (6) Article number 065701 Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/359/
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(2006) 'Observations of coarsening of air voids in a polymer-highly-soluble crystalline matrix during dissolution'. AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOC PHYS REV E, 74 (1) Article number 011504 Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/91/
- . (2006) 'Interactions in protein solutions'. ELSEVIER SCIENCE LONDON CURR OPIN COLLOID IN, 11 (1), pp. 35-39.
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(2006) 'Heterogeneous and homogeneous nucleation compared: Rapid nucleation on microscopic impurities'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC J PHYS CHEM B, 110 (10), pp. 4985-4989.doi: 10.1021/jp056377e
- . (2006) 'Experiment and theory for heterogeneous nucleation of protein crystals in a porous medium'. NATL ACAD SCIENCES P NATL ACAD SCI USA, 103 (3), pp. 597-601.
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(2005) 'Formation of a metastable phase due to the presence of impurities'. J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 17 (2005) 3997-4004.,
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2004) 'A model for the accidental catalysis of protein unfolding in vivo'. EPL (Europhysics Letters),
[ Status: Unpublished ]Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/94/ - .
(2004) 'A statistical theory of nucleation in the presence of uncharacterised
impurities'. Physical Review E v70, 021605 (2004),
[ Status: Unpublished ]Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/178/ - .
(2003) 'Specific protein-protein binding in many-component mixtures of proteins'. Physical Biology v1, 53 (2004),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2003) 'Instabilities in complex mixtures with a large number of components'. Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 245701 (2003),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2003) 'Solution stability, neutral evolution and variability in a simple model
of globular proteins'. Journal of Chemical Physics, doi: 10.1063/1.1631918
[ Status: Unpublished ]Full text is available at: http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/179/ - .
(2003) 'Protein crystals and charged surfaces: interactions and heterogeneous
nucleation'. Physical Review E 67, 061907 (2003),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2002) 'The effects of added salt on the second virial coefficients of the
complete proteome of E. coli'. Journal of Chemical Physics v118, p5157-5161 (2003), doi: 10.1063/1.1544556
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2002) 'Distribution of the second virial coefficients of globular proteins'. Europhysics Letters 60, 938-944 (2002),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2002) 'Flory-Huggins theory for athermal mixtures of hard spheres and larger
flexible polymers'. Physical Review E 66, 051401 (2002),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2002) 'On the electrical double layer contribution to the interfacial tension
of protein crystals'. Journal of Chemical Physics, doi: 10.1063/1.1510765
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2002) 'Interfacial tension and nucleation in mixtures of colloids and long
ideal polymer coils'. Physical Review E 65, 062401 (2002),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2002) 'Heterogeneous nucleation near a metastable vapour-liquid transition: the
effect of wetting transitions'. J. Physics: Condensed Matter 14, 3693-3703 (2002),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2001) 'Homogeneous nucleation near a second phase transition and Ostwald's step
rule'. J. Chemical Physics 116, 5066-5072 (2002), doi: 10.1063/1.1452108
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2001) 'Scaling theory for the free-energy barrier to homogeneous nucleation of
a non-critical phase near a critical point'. Journal of Chemical Physics vol 116 p2922-2927 (2002), doi: 10.1063/1.1436477
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2001) 'Nucleation of the crystalline phase of proteins in the presence of
semidilute non-adsorbing polymer'. Journal of Chemical Physics, doi: 10.1063/1.1376163
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2001) 'Homogeneous nucleation of a non-critical phase near a continuous phase
transition'. Physical Review E v63, 066105 (2001),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2000) 'Phase separation in mixtures of colloids and long ideal polymer coils'. Physical Review Letters v86 4696-4699 (2001),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2000) 'What do emulsification failure and Bose-Einstein condensation have in
common?'. Europhys. Lett. 55, 451 (2001),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2000) 'Nucleation of a non-critical phase in a fluid near a critical point'. Journal of Chemical Physics v114 3170-3173 (2001), doi: 10.1063/1.1340582
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2000) 'Molecular dynamics of a dense fluid of polydisperse hard spheres'. Journal of Chemical Physics v113 p4732-4739 (2000), doi: 10.1063/1.1288804
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(2000) 'Phase behaviour of a model of colloidal particles with a fluctuating
internal state'. Physical Review E v62 p2501-2509 (2000),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1999) 'Metastability and nucleation in the dilute fluid phase of a simple model
of globular proteins'.
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1999) 'Fluid-fluid transitions of hard spheres with a very short-range
attraction'. Physical Review E v61 p6019-6022 (2000),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1999) 'Absence of the liquid phase when the attraction is not pairwise additive'. Physical Review E 61, p651-655 (2000),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - . (1999) 'Surface flattening of thermosetting powder coatings: Theory and experiment.'. AMER CHEMICAL SOC ABSTR PAP AM CHEM S, 218, pp. U626-U626.
- .
(1999) 'Phase behaviour of a simple model of globular proteins'. Journal of Chemical Physics v111 p4800-4806 (1999), doi: 10.1063/1.479243
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1999) 'Classical nucleation theory for the nucleation of the solid phase of
spherical particles with a short-ranged attraction'. Journal of Chemical Physics v111, p2001-2007 (1999), doi: 10.1063/1.479512
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1999) 'Adsorption of polydisperse polymer chains'. Journal of Chemical Physics v111, p2255-2258 (1999), doi: 10.1063/1.479496
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1998) 'Depletion induced demixing in polydisperse mixtures of hard spheres'. Physical Review Letters v82 p4244-4247 (1999),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1998) 'The low temperature interface between the gas and solid phases of hard
spheres with a short-ranged attraction'. Physical Review E v59, p6838-6841 (1999),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1998) 'Phase separation and crystallisation of polydisperse hard spheres'. Europhysics Letters 44, 531-535 (1998),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1998) 'The stability limit of polydisperse sticky hard spheres'.
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1997) 'Scattering from small colloidal particles in a semidilute polymer
solution'. European Physical Journal B v1 313-317 (1998),
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1997) 'A coil-globule transition of a semiflexible polymer driven by the
addition of spherical particles'. Phys.Rev. E58 (1998) 724-728,
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1997) 'Polymer induced phase coexistence in systems of lamellar phases'.
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1997) 'Depletion driven adsorption of colloidal rods onto a hard wall'. Physical Review E,
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1997) 'Theory for polymer coils with necklaces of micelles'. Journal of Physics:Condensed Matter,
[ Status: Unpublished ] - .
(1997) 'The coil-globule transition of polymers of long rigid monomers connected
by flexible spacers'. Journal of Chemical Physics, doi: 10.1063/1.474987
[ Status: Unpublished ]
Conference papers
- . (2005) 'The cytoplasm of living cells: a functional mixture of thousands of components'. IOP PUBLISHING LTD JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-CONDENSED MATTER, Utrecht, NETHERLANDS: 6th Liquid Matter Conference 17 (45), pp. S3587-S3595.
Teaching
I teach on the Department's undergraduate degrees, mostly statistical physics and maths courses. See my homepage for webpages for the courses I teach.Departmental Duties
I am on the Department's marketing group, and represent the Department on the Faculty's marketing committee. I am also the Department's library rep.My marketing responsibilities include overall responsibility for the Department's website and blog.