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Biological membranes are complex, dynamic structures essential for cellular compartmentalization, signaling, and mechanical integrity. The molecular organization of eukaryotic membranes has been extensively studied, including the lipid…
We present a simple and highly adaptable method for simulating coarse-grained lipid membranes without explicit solvent. Lipids are represented by one head-bead and two tail-beads, with the interaction between tails being of key importance…
Most biological molecules contain acido-basic groups that modulate their structure and interactions. A consequence is that pH gradients, local heterogeneities and dynamic variations are used by cells and organisms to drive or regulate…
Amphipathic peptides are considered promising antibiotics because of their ability to form pores in bacterial membranes. In two companion papers, we analyzed both experimentally and theoretically the mechanisms and consequences of the…
Boundary lubrication is associated with two sliding molecularly thin lubricated film-coated surfaces, where the energy dissipation occurs at the slip-plane between lubricated films. The hydration lubrication paradigm, which accounts for…
A cell membrane can be simply regarded as composite material consisting of lipid bilayer, membrane cytoskeleton beneath lipid bilayer, and proteins embedded in lipid bilayer and linked with membrane cytoskeleton if one only concerns its…
There is mounting evidence that lipid bilayers display conductive properties. However, when interpreting the electrical response of biological membranes to voltage changes, they are commonly considered as inert insulators. However, lipid…
We study lipid translocation ("flip-flop") between the leaflets of a planar lipid bilayer with transition path sampling (TPS). Rare flip-flops compete with biological machineries that actively establish asymmetric lipid compositions.…
Critical lateral pressure for a pore formation and phase diagram of porous membrane are derived analytically as functions of the microscopic parameters of the lipid chains. The derivation exploits path-integral calculation of the free…
Bilayer lipid membranes [BLMs] are an essential component of all biological systems, forming a functional barrier for cells and organelles from the surrounding environment. The lipid molecules that form membranes contain both permanent and…
Phospholipids are essential building blocks of biological membranes. Despite of vast amount of accurate experimental data the atomistic resolution structures sampled by the glycerol backbone and choline headgroup in phoshatidylcholine…
Mechanotransduction, the biological response to mechanical stress, is often initiated by the activation of mechanosensitive (MS) proteins upon mechanically induced deformations of the cell membrane. A current challenge to fully understand…
We report a method for producing an array of fifty two ion-sensitive PEDOT:PSS organic electrochemical transistors on a glass coverslip, each featuring an integrated fluoropolymer microwell sealed with lipid bilayer into which membrane…
Lipid membranes regulate the flow of materials and information between cells and their organelles. Further, lipid composition and morphology can play a key role in regulating a variety of biological processes. For example, viral uptake,…
Reconstituted nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) exhibit significant gain-of-function upon addition of cholesterol to reconstitution mixtures, and cholesterol affects organization of nAChRs within domain-forming membranes, but…
The outstanding lubrication of articular cartilage in the major synovial joints such as hips and knees, essential for the joint well-being, has been attributed to boundary layers of lipids at the outer cartilage surfaces, which have very…
With the aim of establishing a criterion for identifying when a lipid bilayer has reached steady state using the molecular dynamics simulation technique, lipid bilayers of different composition in their liquid crystalline phase were…
We have carried out Monte Carlo simulation of the fusion of bilayers of single chain amphiphiles which show phase behavior similar to that of biological lipids. The fusion mechanism we observe is very different from the ``stalk''…
The interaction potential between supported floating bilayers has been determined by grazing incidence specular and off-specular scattering using synchrotron radiation. Our measurements demonstrate that floating bilayers are significantly…
Ion channels form pores across the lipid bilayer, selectively allowing inorganic ions to cross the membrane down their electrochemical gradient. While the study of ion desolvation free-energies have attracted much attention, the role of…