Dr. Heather Wiebe

PhD`
Professor
Faculty
Science and Technology
Department
Chemistry
Languages
English
Contact:
Contact through VIU Communications

Expertise

Matter under extreme conditions
Molecular dynamics simulations
Density Functional theory
Path integral molecular dynamics

Fields

Computational chemistry
Molecular modelling

Research goals

My research is focused on the effects that high hydrostatic pressure has on complex chemical and biochemical systems. The thermodynamic relationship between pressure, Gibbs energy and volume means that an increase in pressure will result in a preference for states with smaller volumes. This can result in some unexpected and very interesting chemistry! My particular interest lies in studying the effect pressure has on biological systems such as proteins and lipid membranes, in order to determine how these systems have adapted to high pressure in deep-sea organisms.

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