Materials Science of Supported Lipid Membranes
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Materials Science of Supported Lipid Membranes Atul N. Parikh and Jay T. Groves, Guest Editors Abstract Supported membranes represent an elegant route to designing well-defined fluid interfaces which mimic many physical–chemical properties of biological membranes. Recent years have witnessed rapid growth in the applications of physical and materials science approaches in understanding and controlling lipid membranes. Applying these approaches is enabling the determination of their structure–dynamics–function relations and allowing the design of membrane-mimetic devices. The collection of articles presented in this issue of MRS Bulletin illustrates the breadth of activity in this growing partnership between materials science and biophysics. Together, these articles highlight some of the key challenges of cellular membranes and exemplify their utility in fundamental biophysical studies and technological applications. The topics covered also confirm the importance of lipid membranes as an exciting example of soft condensed matter. We hope that this issue will serve readers by highlighting the intellectual scope and emerging opportunities in this highly interdisciplinary area of materials research. Keywords: biological, biomimetic, cellular.
Lipid bilayer membranes are the universal material of choice for defining and controlling cellular organization in living systems. They are a major constituent of the biological membranes that serve as the outer boundary of cells and organelles.1 As such, they serve as a means to compartmentalize, juxtapose, regulate, and generally mediate biomolecular interactions. The astounding complexity of life is intimately associated with the diverse physical–chemical properties of these membranes,2 which include two-dimensional fluidity, material elasticity, thermal fluctuations, chemical diversity, and rich phase behavior.3 In this regard, developing a materials-science-based understanding of lipid membranes is an exciting endeavor. Traditional approaches to materials synthesis have largely relied on uniform, equilibrated phases leading to static “condensed matter” structures, for example, monolithic single crystals. Over the past several decades, these approaches have led to the development of a wide range of technologically useful materials including semiconducting, ferroelectric, nonlinear optical, superconducting, and piezoelectric
MRS BULLETIN • VOLUME 31 • JULY 2006
materials. Important as they are, the range of functions in these materials is constrained by their static structure. In contrast, lipid bilayer membranes exploit their chemical heterogeneity, phase behavior, and dynamics to produce an impressive set of time-dependent functions for the biological membrane. Examples include stimuli-induced protein clustering, lipid reorganization, and topographical changes that regulate broad classes of biological functions of membranes4,5 including signaling, molecular recognition, and transport. This spatio-temporal mode of lipid organization, or dynamic self-assembly, in biological m
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