Deformation of lipid membranes into curved structures such as buds and tubules is essential to many cellular structures including endocytic pits and filopodia. Binding of specific proteins to lipid membranes has been shown to promote membrane bending during endocytosis and transport vesicle formation. Additionally, specific lipid species are found to colocalize with many curved membrane structu...

Whole cell and surface membrane O-alkyl and alk-1-enyl lipid concentrations of 11 transplantable rat mammary carcinomas were measured. A correlation was found between surface membrane O-alkyl lipid levels and metastasizing behavior. No relationship was found between alk-1-enyl lipid concentrations and metastasizing behavior. A possible correlation was found between the product of growth rate an...

Fluidity is essential for many biological membrane functions. The basis for understanding membrane structure remains the classic Singer-Nicolson model, in which proteins are embedded within a fluid lipid bilayer and able to diffuse laterally within a sea of lipid. Here we report lipid and protein diffusion in the plasma membrane of live cells of the bacterium Escherichia coli, using Fluorescenc...

Nanoscale membrane deformations are believed to act as signaling hubs that combine geometry and lipid composition. We propose an in vitro platform for curvature sensitive protein screening using nanoparticles with phospholipid patterned on top.

Membrane fusion is the core process in membrane trafficking and is essential for cellular transport of proteins and other biomacromolecules. During protein-mediated membrane fusion, membrane proteins are often excluded from the membrane-membrane contact, indicating that local structural transformations in lipid domains play a major role. However, the rearrangements of lipid domains during fusio...

Alterations in the lipid composition of lipid rafts have been demonstrated both in human brain and transgenic mouse models, and it has been postulated that aberrant lipid composition in lipid rafts is partly responsible for neuronal degeneration. In order to assess the impact of lipid changes on lipid raft functional properties, we have aimed at determining relevant physicochemical modification...

Native and synthetic membranes can be electrically monitored by creating supported lipid bilayers on top of conducting polymer electrodes. Cell membrane characteristics, e.g. the function transmembrane proteins, are studied in this paper, along with device sensitivity.