  We present a theoretical study of the physical properties of cationic
lipid-DNA (CL-DNA) complexes - a promising synthetically based nonviral carrier
of DNA for gene therapy. The study is based on a coarse-grained molecular
model, which is used in Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of mesoscopically large
systems over time scales long enough to address experimental reality. In the
present work we focus on the statistical-mechanical behavior of lamellar
complexes, which in MC simulations self-assemble spontaneously from a
disordered random initial state.
