A Funnel Model

Evidence from mixed hydrate nucleation for a funnel model of crystallization
(https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1610437113)

In this recent PNAS paper, I demonstrate that molecular crystallization involves funnel-shaped potential energy landscapes, thereby providing a funnel model of crystallization. This funnel model is a lens for rationalizing both crystallization phenomenology and previous results. Previous work had conjectured that crystallization and protein folding were similar processes. My work shows that the similarities between crystallization and protein folding arise from similarities in their potential energy landscapes. More specifically, the funnel-shaped potential energy landscapes associated with crystallization are analogous to those described in the funnel model of protein folding. Funnel-shaped landscapes are probably also relevant to other ordering processes (e.g., micelle formation and self-assembly).