RUI: Self-Assembled Interfaces: Protolipids, Asymmetry, and Energetics

在化学系大分子、超分子和纳米化学项目的支持下，Iona大学化学系的Sunghee Lee教授和她的研究小组正在研究活细胞如何在其膜中排列分子成分。这些边界层由长尾脂质分子组成，这些长尾脂质分子聚集在一个双层中，内层相对于外层有不同种类的脂质分子。这种分子差异或不对称对细胞功能至关重要，但这种排列的根本原因尚不完全清楚。李教授和她的团队将利用细胞大小的水滴自我排列成不对称的双层，探索细胞膜的大量脂质组成，并在显微镜下检查这些细胞模拟物的物理、化学和机械特性。该项目的目标是确定单个脂质分子的不同形状和大小如何影响细胞膜的机械强度、漏性和稳定性，这些因素决定了活细胞的功能和生命周期。该项目有可能为软物质系统和功能材料的设计提供帮助，也有助于更好地理解生物学相关材料。拟议工作的更广泛的科学影响涉及这些研究对生物传感器、诊断和药物筛选平台生产的潜在长期影响。该项目还将采用有助于培养下一代具有全球竞争力的科学家进行假设驱动的跨学科研究的研究方法，并且预计将包括代表性不足的群体成员的参与。计划开展外联活动，让少数民族服务机构的初高中学生和教师参与进来，扩大公众对这项研究的参与。根据该奖项，Sunghee Lee教授和她的团队将在对称和不对称平面脂质双层上施加自发曲率的增加，并确定双层形成驱动力的变化，以开发曲率弹性应力能的直接实验传感器。包括负曲率脂质的对称和非对称双层模型将被检查它们对双层形成的热力学驱动力的影响。为了量化脂质形状的影响，Lee团队将获得跨双分子层的水传输参数，确定双分子层的稳定性参数，确定电学性质，使用振动光谱来确定酰基链的顺序，并对脂质分散体进行热致性分析。该技术的传播将包括与合作者合作，应用不对称液滴界面双层技术研究蛋白质功能。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With the support of the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Sunghee Lee and her research group in the Department of Chemistry at Iona University are undertaking studies on how living cells arrange molecular components in their membranes. These boundary layers are composed of long-tailed lipid (fatty) molecules that assemble in a double layer (a bilayer) with different kinds of lipid molecules on the inner layer relative to the outer layer. This molecular difference, or asymmetry, is vital for cell function, and yet the fundamental reasons for this arrangement are not fully known. Professor Lee and her team will explore a large array of lipid compositions of cell membranes, using cell-size water droplets that self-arrange into asymmetric bilayers, and microscopically examine the resulting physical, chemical, and mechanical properties of these cell-mimics. The goal of the project is to determine how the differing shapes and sizes of individual lipid molecules can impact cell-membrane mechanical strength, leakiness, and stability, which determine the functions and the life cycle of living cells. The project has the potential to provide insights that aid in the design of soft matter systems and functional materials, and also contribute to better understanding of biologically relevant materials. The scientific broader impacts of the proposed work relate to potential longer term implications of these studies for the production of biosensors, diagnostics, and drug screening platforms. This project will also employ research methods that will help train the next generation of globally-competitive scientists with hypothesis-driven interdisciplinary research, and is expected to include participation from members of underrepresented groups. Outreach activities are planned to extend the public engagement with this research by involving middle/high school students and teachers at minority serving institutions.Under this award, Professor Sunghee Lee and her group will impose increasing spontaneous curvature upon symmetric and asymmetric planar lipid bilayers and ascertain changes in the driving force for bilayer formation, to develop a direct experimental transducer for curvature elastic stress energy. Models of symmetric and asymmetric bilayers comprising lipids of negative curvature will be examined for their effect upon the thermodynamic driving force for bilayer formation. To quantify the effects of lipid shape, the Lee group will acquire water transport parameters across the bilayer, determine bilayer stability parameters, ascertain electrical properties, use vibrational spectroscopy for determination of acyl chain order, and perform thermotropic analyses of lipid dispersions. Dissemination of the technology will include working with collaborators to apply the techniques of asymmetric droplet interface bilayers for studies of protein function.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.