About the Cell and Virus Theory Center

Welcome to sysbio.indiana.edu, the website of the Ortoleva Research Group. Our activities focus on research and education regarding the structure and function of living and non-living materials at scales from the atomic to the global.

In all cases we are developing the mathematical and computational methods needed to understand the physics and chemistry of these systems. The latter range from macromolecules, viruses and intelligent nanoparticles to supra-kilometer scale structures in the earth's sub-surface.

Applications range from the design of vaccines, nanocapsule drug delivery systems and a variety of nanomaterials, to the exploration and recovery of petroleum resources. Techniques used include multiscale theory, Monte Carlo and other statistical methods for quantum and classical systems, and bioinformatics.

About Dr. Peter Ortoleva

Peter J. Ortoleva is Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Director of the Cell and Virus Theory Center at Indiana University. He received his PhD in Applied Theoretical Physics from Cornell University. He has over 220 peer-reviewed journal publications, three monographs and three edited volumes. His research interest spans self-organization theory, computational and theoretical nanoscience, and computer-aided nanomedical systems. Approaches used include statistical mechanics, finite element modeling, bifurcation theory, geochemistry and multiscale analysis.