Dipole Organization and Membrane Biophysics: a Tale of Two Studies

Professor Amitabha Chattopadhyay

Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India

3:30 pm Tuesday, 12 March 2013, EN313 Lecture Theatre (EN Building), Hawthorn

Biological membranes are complex assemblies of lipids and proteins that allow cellular compartmentalization and act as an interface, through which cells communicate with each other and with the external milieu. In physical terms, membranes can be treated as a complex oriented fluid which is a weakly coupled, non-covalent, and anisotropic assembly of molecules in two-dimensions, and can therefore be treated as soft matter.

In this lecture, I will focus on the application of red edge excitation shift (REES) and membrane dipole potential to explore organization and dynamics of membrane lipids and proteins. Both these phenomena are dependent on organization of membrane dipoles.

References:

1. Haldar, S., Chaudhuri, A., and Chattopadhyay, A. (2011) J. Phys. Chem. B 115: 5693-5706 (Feature Article).

2. Haldar, S., Kanaparthi, R.K., Samanta, A., and Chattopadhyay, A. (2012) Biophys. J. 102: 1561-1569.

3. Singh, P., Haldar, S., and Chattopadhyay, A. (2013) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1828: 917-923.

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