Model Membrane Structure, Molecular Order, Fluctuations and Dynamics

这项研究计划的总体目标是提高我们对膜的物理性质如何影响其生物功能的理解。 一个更直接的目标是了解这些物理性质如何影响和确定可用于研究膜的方法。 我们进行精确实验测量的能力取决于膜的物理性质。例如，在荧光显微镜或核磁共振（NMR）光谱学中，分子运动的速率决定了我们是否能真正观察到任何东西。 人们早就知道胆固醇会破坏膜双层，使其更具弹性。 最近发现，质膜的高胆固醇含量使其接近临界点，使得局部膜组成波动。 这可能会对膜功能产生重大影响。 我们还研究了如何纳入肽，作为模型蛋白质，影响这种行为在模型膜和肽本身是如何受到影响的关键行为。 此外，我们希望了解更多关于小分子膜活性肽与膜之间的相互作用。

The overall aim of this research program is to improve our understanding of how the physical properties of membranes affect their biological function. A more immediate goal is to understand how these physical properties affect and determine the approaches which can be used to study membranes. Our ability to perform accurate experimental measurements depends on the physical properties of the membrane. For example, in fluorescence microscopy or in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy the rates of molecular motion determine whether or not we can actually observe anything at all. Cholesterol has long been known to thicken the membrane bilayer and to make it somewhat more resilient. More recently it has been found that the high cholesterol content of plasma membranes places them close to a critical point such that the local membrane composition fluctuates. This may turn out to have a significant impact on membrane function. We are also studying how the inclusion of peptides, as model proteins, affect this behaviour in model membranes and how the peptides themselves are affected by the critical behaviour. Furthermore, we want to learn more about the interaction between small membrane active peptides and the membrane.