RUI: Biomimetic Self-Assembly: Physical State and the Barrier Function to Water Permeation

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The Macromolecular, Supramolecular, and Nanochemistry Program in the Chemistry Division at the National Science Foundation supports Professor Sunghee Lee of Iona College to study how supramolecular self-assemblies at micrometer-sized liquid-liquid interfaces control the passage of water. The study promotes our understanding of how living cells can selectively retain and release their water content. Such water controlling mechanisms are essential to understanding not only life's origins but also the functions of major organs such as the skin and kidneys. More broadly, the project has a potential to contribute to human health and clean water applications that rely on the retention and elimination of water and waste. The research enables training for a large number of undergraduate research participants in the project. The research team further broadens the impact of their work by developing outreach seminars and science symposia for high school students and teachers that inspire and engage students to enter science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, particularly those from underrepresented groups. Professor Lee and her students travel to the University of Tokyo in Japan to conduct experiments on high-throughput device fabrication obtaining a global perspective on science. This research is focused on elucidating how supramolecular self-assemblies at micron-sized liquid-liquid interfaces can serve as controllable barriers for the passage of water. The team of researchers, Professor Lee and undergraduate students at Iona College, will investigate the directionality of the water movement, and balance between permeability and stability in protocell models through experimental activities strategized to determine the water permeability parameters and energy of activation for osmotic flow, electrical properties of capacitance and leakage current, diffusional water permeability, and adhesion energy. Upon successful completion, this research could provide fundamental insights into how lipid asymmetry plays a role in organismal water homeostasis, and the balance between stability and permeability in prebiotic cellular models.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.