The cell membrane has many properties crucial to the life of the cell, one of which is to act as a semi-permeable barrier to determine the molecules that can pass through it. The main way this selectivity is regulated is through the use of transmembrane transport proteins. Due to the specificity of these proteins and their sizes and shapes, the membrane that they span must be of a particular thickness. Membrane thickness is predominantly determined by the types of lipids that make up the membrane, particularly the chain length and bond structure of the hydrocarbon chain. In this project, a highly efficient method for determining the thickness of membranes has been developed using the Droplet Interface Bilayers (DIB) as a model system for the cell membrane. This method measures the capacitance of the membrane and thus determines membrane thickness owing to the inverse relationship between capacitance and membrane thickness. These studies can be used to highlight the ways in which membrane thickness can be modulated and thus tune the activity of transport proteins.

Electrophysiological studies of model lipid bilayers

254th National Meeting (2017)

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