Application of Neutrons to Model and Viable Biological Membranes
by
Zoom Webinar
Biological membranes are complex, self-assembled systems of proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates, whose hierarchical organization is fundamental to physiological processes. In particular, the lateral organization of plasma membranes is now widely accepted as being an integral feature of biological function. Importantly, among the nanoscopic probes suitable for the study of biomembranes, neutrons stand out both for their non-destructive nature and their multi-scale spatial and temporal information content. I will describe how we developed a program focused on the study of membrane lateral heterogeneities and show how we used deuterium labeling and small angle neutron scattering to detect lipid domains in model [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 135, 6853 (2013)] and fully functional biomembranes [PLoS Biol. 15, e2002214 (2017)].
Dr. Christian Franz
Dr. Christian Lang