PostDoc, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Mail: 607 Young Dr E, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569.
Office: 3107B Young Hall | Phone: 310.20[6-2330]
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Research Interest: Using small-angle scattering, I am currently studying viral RNA geometry to understand packing related stresses experienced by a capsid.

Before joining the virus group at UCLA, I completed my graduate work with Prof. Ka Yee C. Lee at the University of Chicago. My thesis was titled: "The Collapse of Phospholipid Langmuir Monolayers: Implications for Biological Surfactant". In doing this work, I had the fortune of interacting and collaborating extensively with Dr. Haim Diamant, Dr. Toan Nguyen and Prof. Tom Witten. The resulting publications:

1. Diamant, H., Witten, T. A., Gopal, A. and Lee, K. Y. C., "Unstable topography of biphasic surfactant monolayers," Europhysics Letters 52, 171-177 (2000).
2. Diamant, H., Witten, T. A., Ege, C., Gopal, A., Lee, K. Y. C. "Topography and instability of monolayers near domain boundaries," Physical Review E: Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics 63, 061602 (2001).
3. Gopal, A. and Lee, K. Y. C. "Morphology and Collapse Transitions in Binary Phospholipid Monolayers," Journal of Physical Chemistry B 105, 10348 (2001).
4. Lee, K. Y. C., Gopal, A., von Nahmen, A., Zasadzinski, J. A., Majewski, J., Smith, G. S., Howes, P. B. and Kjaer, K. "Influence of palmitic acid and hexadecanol on the phase transition temperature and molecular packing of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine monolayers at the air-water interface," Journal of Chemical Physics 116, 774 (2002).
5. Nguyen, T. T., Gopal, A., Lee, K. Y. C. and Witten, T. A. "Surface charge relaxation and the pearling instability of charged surfactant tubes," Phys. Rev. E 72, 051930 (2005).
6. Gopal, A., Belyi, V. A., Diamant, H., Witten, T. A., Lee, K. Y.C., "Microscopic Folds and Macroscopic Jerks in Compressed Lipid Monolayers", J. Phys. Chem. B, 110, 10220, (2006).
7. Gopal, A., Lee, K. Y. C. "Headgroup Percolation and Collapse of Condensed Langmuir Monolayers", J. Phys. Chem. B; 110, 22079, (2006).
8. Ng, B. C., Yu, M., Gopal, A., Rome, L. H., Monbouquette, H. G., and Tolbert, S. H. "Encapsulation of Semiconducting Polymers in Vault Protein Cages ", Nano Letters; (2008).
9. Yoffe, A. M., Prinsen, P., Gopal, A., Knobler, C. M., Gelbart, W. M., and Ben-Shaul, A. "Predicting the sizes of large RNA molecules" PNAS; (2008)
10. Gopal, A., Wilson, D. K., Nguyen, T. T., and Lee, K. Y. C. "Collapse Morphology of Fluid Phospholipid Langmuir Monolayers," In Preparation.