Collaborative Research: Membrane Nanodomains--Prediction and Detection

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The research objective of this award is to predict and detect the formation of lipid nanodomains in giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). Lipid nanodomains are believed to play a significant role in a number of critical cellular processes, including replication processes in enveloped viruses such as bird flu and HIV and signaling mechanisms underlying pathological conditions such as cancer. The research approach involves three main activities: 1) developing the first imaging modality suitable to detect and characterize the formation of nanodomains; 2) developing multiscale models and numerical methodologies for nanoraft simulation; and 3) identifying the conditions needed for the formation of nanodomains and image them in GUVs. An important byproduct of these activities concerns addressing the question of whether or not such nanodomains can form at all in the absence of auxiliary stabilizing agents such as proteins. If successful, the results of this research will provide an imaging modality that can be transferred to bioscientists to observe and detect, and eventually help control, the emergence of rafts in cells. Such knowledge might be used, for example, to guide the development of treatment schemes for cancer involving the control of growth factors and other membrane signaling molecules. Results from the research activities will be disseminated by providing the microscope techniques to manufacturers, making the computer codes freely available online to other scientists and engineers, and by providing images and animations to teachers and science museums. Undergraduate and graduate engineering students will be trained in the experimental, theoretical, and computational techniques involved in this research through a system of lab rotations