Related papers: Non-universal Impact of Cholesterol on Ionic Liqui…
Many ternary mixtures composed of saturated and unsaturated lipids with cholesterol (Chol) exhibit a region of coexistence between liquid-disordered $(L_d)$ and liquid-ordered $(L_o)$ domains, bearing some similarities to lipid rafts in…
Many cell functions require a concerted effort from multiple membrane proteins, for example, for signaling, cell division, and endocytosis. One contribution to their successful self-organization stems from the membrane deformations that…
The cell membrane is inherently asymmetric and heterogeneous in its composition, a feature that is crucial for its function. Using atomistic molecular dynamics simulations, the physical properties of a 3-component asymmetric mixed lipid…
We study the interaction of lipid bilayers with short chain alcohols using molecular dynamics on different length scales. We use detailed atomistic modeling and modeling on the length scale where an alcohol is just an amphiphilic dimer. Our…
Ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) are anisotropic mesogenic molecules which carry charges and therefore combine properties of liquid crystals, e.g., the formation of mesophases, and of ionic liquids, such as low melting temperatures and tiny…
The low sliding friction of articular cartilage in the major joints , which is crucial for its homeostasis and for joint health, has been attributed to lipid bilayers forming lubricious boundary layers at its surface. The robustness of such…
Although 1-alkanols are widely used as anesthetics and membrane-active agents, the molecular basis of their chain-length-dependent cutoff behavior remains unclear. Here, we perform extensive atomistic molecular dynamics simulations to…
In an effort to understand ``rafts'' in biological membranes, we propose phenomenological models for saturated and unsaturated lipid mixtures, and lipid-cholesterol mixtures. We consider simple couplings between the local composition and…
The lateral diffusion of lipids within membrane is of paramount importance, serving as a central mechanism in numerous physiological processes including cell signaling, membrane trafficking, protein activity regulation, and energy…
Modeling membrane interactions with arbitrarily shaped colloidal particles, such as environmental micro- and nanoplastics, at the cell scale remains particularly challenging, owing to the complexity of particle geometries and the need to…
Lipid-protein interactions play essential roles in cellular signaling and membrane dynamics, yet their systematic characterization has long been hindered by the inherent biochemical properties of lipids. Recent advances in functionalized…
The presence and the properties of lipid bilayer nanometer-scale domains might be important for understanding the membranes of living cells. We used molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate perturbations of a small patch of…
The activity of cell membrane inclusions (such as ion channels) is influenced by the host lipid membrane, to which they are elastically coupled. This coupling concerns the hydrophobic thickness of the bilayer (imposed by the length of the…
The impact of nanomaterials on lung fluids or on the plasma membrane of living cells has prompted researchers to examine the interactions between nanoparticles and lipid vesicles. Recent studies have shown that nanoparticle-lipid…
The coupling of electric fields to the mechanics of lipid membranes gives rise to intriguing electromechanical behavior, as, for example, evidenced by the deformation of lipid vesicles in external electric fields. Electromechanical effects…
The interplay of membrane proteins is vital for many biological processes, such as cellular transport, cell division, and signal transduction between nerve cells. Theoretical considerations have led to the idea that the membrane itself…
We present a novel, self-consistent and robust theoretical model to investigate elastic interactions between topological defects in liquid crystal shells. Accounting for the non-concentric nature of the shell in a simple manner, we are able…
Sterols have been ascribed a major role in the organization of biological membranes, in particular for the formation of liquid ordered domains in complex lipid mixtures. Here, we employed molecular dynamics simulations to compare the…
Biological membranes are dynamic surfaces whose shape and function are critically influenced by protein inclusions (PIs). While membrane deformations induced by PIs have been extensively studied in the small-deformation regime, a variety of…
Membrane-induced interactions have been predicted to be important for the organization of membrane proteins. Measurements of the interactions between two and three membrane deforming objects have revealed their non-additive nature. They are…