Program:
15.00-15.15: coffee & cake in the foyer
15.15-16.15: scientific talk in Auditorium I

Speaker: Prof. Thomas Koop, Bielefeld University, Germany

Abstract:
The formation of ice crystals is one of the most common liquid-to-solid phase transitions on Earth. It has beneficial effects, such as initiating atmospheric precipitation, as well as adverse consequences, such as biological frost damage. Nature has developed molecules that either promote or inhibit ice crystal formation and growth. Examples include ice-nucleating proteins in bacteria and ice-binding antifreeze proteins in polar fish, plants, and insects. This presentation will focus on the physical chemistry of the two-step freezing process, specifically the initial ice nucleation event where the first stable ice embryo forms and how this embryo subsequently grows into a macroscopic crystal. The discussion will cover molecular and mechanistic effects that influence the kinetics of ice nucleation and growth, such as the catalysis of ice nucleation by various types of molecules and the inhibition of ice growth through the blocking of ice crystal surfaces by adsorbed antifreeze proteins.