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INS seminars 74: Mechanisms of molecular transport across lipid bilayer membranes (Martin Ulmschneider, Oct.10, 2013)

INS seminars 74

Title: Mechanisms of molecular transport across lipid bilayer membranes

Speaker: Martin Ulmschneider, John Hopkins University, Baltimore MA

Time and place: 10:20am-11:20am, October 13, 2013 (Thursday), 601 Pao Yue-Kong Library

Abstract:

Lipid bilayer membrane present formidable barriers, compartmentalizing and protecting the cellular machinery from its environment. Cell survival and metabolism depend crucially on a range of membrane active peptides and integral membrane proteins that regulate selective transport of molecular cargo across membranes.

Transport of small peptides depends vitally on water-to-membrane transfer free energies, with suitable poly-peptide chains being able to directly translocate across a lipid bilayer membrane. Transport of ions and small drug-like molecules, on the other hand, is generally regulated by much more complex channel proteins, that employ specialized channel architectures that allow selective flow of particular molecules at high efficiency.

Long-timescale unbiased molecular simulations are used in combination with a variety of experimental techniques to describe the molecular mechanisms underlying these transport phenomena.