Expected from theory and simulations, depletion of ions at fuzzy biomembrane interfaces has long eluded experiments. Here, we show how salt exclusion can be accurately measured by surprisingly simple yet accurate benchtop measurements. Multilamellar aggregates of common phospholipids sink in low salt but float in salt solutions that are much less dense than the lipid itself. By manipulating bat...

This work reports on studies concerning with the interaction of important environmental contaminants, such as organotins, with model and biological systems. Organometallic compounds are synthesized and used for applications in industry and agriculture. Moreover, some organometallics can be directly formed in the environment by the action of microbial agents on inorganic precursors. Because of t...

Cell membrane is at the frontline of the battle between pathogenic microbe and host. A thorough understanding of bacterial membrane is fundamental to tackle infection disease. Membrane mimetic provides a powerful tool for mechanistic investigation of drug-membrane interaction. Herein, we summarized major features of bacterial and mammalian cell in context of antibacterial therapy. Many details ...

The applicability of field-low fractionation (FFF) to the characterization of liposomes is discussed and theoretically described. Because of fundamental differences in their driving forces, sedimentation FFF and flow FFF measure different vesicle properties. Sedimentation FFF, although used previously to measure vesicle sizes and size distributions, is fundamentally a technique that measures th...

This thesis describes the development and characterisation of a novel biomembrane model suitable for electrochemical investigation, and its applicability in studies of biologically related phenomena. The model system consists of a lipid monolayer, deposited at a polarisable liquid – liquid interface with the Langmuir – Blodgett technique. Combinations of ac and dc electrochemical techniques wit...

Phase segregation of membranal components, such as proteins, lipids, and cholesterols, leads to the formation of aggregates or domains that are rich in specific constituents. This process is important in the interaction of the cell with its surroundings and in determining the cell's behavior and fate. Motivated by published experiments on curvature-modulated phase separation in lipid membranes,...

3 Liang-Hong Zheng, Chang-He Wang, Shu-Jiang Shang, Xiao-Yu Zhang, Ye-Shi 4 Wang, Qi-Hui Wu, Mei-Qin Hu, Zu-Yin Chai, Xi Wu, Hui Zheng, Chen Zhang, 5 Lie-Cheng Wang, Wei Xiong, and Zhuan Zhou 6 7 State Key Laboratory of Biomembrane and Membrane Biotechnology and Beijing Key 8 Laboratory of Cardiometabolic Molecular Medicine and Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life 9 Sciences and PKU-IDG/McGovern Ins...

The parallel implementation of a molecular dynamics code suitable for simulationof general molecular systems using spatial{decomposition methods is discussed. Long-range Coulombic forces are computed using a particle-mesh Ewald (PPPM) technique. A multiple{timescale integration method known as rRESPA is also used to improve the computational eeciency. The load{balancing and interprocessor commu...