Modern Methods for Construction of Model Cell Membranes

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Guest Editor

Sunghee Lee

Iona College

Professor Sunghee Lee, PhD, is a Board of Trustees Endowed Professor in the Department of Chemistry of Iona College, New Rochelle, NY, United States. She is a Biophysical Analytical Chemist, as well as an active teacher and advisor, and leads a successful research group in microdroplet interfacial science, biomembrane mimetics, and crystal nucleation. Her research group builds artificial mimics of cell membranes, both to improve our fundamental understanding of cell membranes, and to engineer new devices inspired by nature. Prof. Lee's research has been continually funded by National Science Foundation, the American Chemical Society (ACS), and the Camille-Henry Dreyfus Foundation. Prof. Lee is a passionate advocate for building STEM educational programs through integration of education and research, which includes securing multiple prestigious and competitive grants funded by governments at the Federal and State levels, as well as agencies in the private and nonprofit sectors. Prof. Lee serves as Coordinator and Director for numerous educational programs intending to increase recruitment and improve retention in STEM, particularly through research and scholarship, with an emphasis on empowering underrepresented group in STEM, including female scientists. Prof. Lee has a BS Degree in Chemistry from Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea; a MS, Chemistry, from POSTECH, Pohang, Korea; and a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from Brown University, where she was Potter Prize recipient for best thesis; and has performed her post-doctoral research at Duke University

Collection Overview

The study of the structure of cell membranes is key to improved molecular-level understanding of the property/performance matrix for biological membranes. The compositional complexity and highly dynamic nature (heterogeneous organization) of cellular membranes has prompted the use of model cell membranes with defined and controllable features for the investigation of fundamental properties of various biological processes. Artificial/model cell membranes can lead to advances in various fields that benefit from biomimetic inspiration, such as in drug discovery and delivery, sensor development, and studying the origin of life. This methods collection seeks to assemble various approaches for engineering artificial model cell membranes that provide insights into the molecular understanding of biological membranes, protein-lipid and lipid-lipid interactions, and its interactions with exogenous molecules and nanomaterials. Examples in this collection may include: monolayers, vesicles, planar bilayers, supported lipid bilayers, microemulsion biomimetic systems, droplet interface bilayers, lipid bilayers in high-throughput microfluidics, and bicelles, with specificity for each chosen method having unique advantages and applications. It is hoped that the scientific community for building model cell membranes will contribute to this collection, which will ultimately lead to achieving the construction of realistic cell membranes and protocells.