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是如何影响的，并确定可以用于研究膜的方法。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光谱学中，分子运动的速度决定了我们是否能真正观察到任何东西。长期以来，胆固醇一直被认为可以增厚膜双层，并使其更具弹性。最近，人们发现质膜的高胆固醇含量使其接近临界点，从而导致局部膜成分的波动。这可能会对膜功能产生重大影响。我们还在研究作为模型蛋白质的多肽如何影响模型膜中的这种行为，以及多肽本身是如何受到临界行为的影响的。此外，我们还想更多地了解小分子膜活性多肽与膜的相互作用。

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.