Interacting With Biological Membranes Using Organic Electronic Devices

Author : Han-Yuan Liu
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (124 download)

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Download or read book Reconstitution of Eukaryotic Membranes on Polymer Surface and Devices for Studies of Membrane Protein Biophysics written by Han-Yuan Liu and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Membrane proteins are responsible for significant proportion of cellular functions and therefore, implicated in many diseases. For example, more than 60% of therapeutics to date target membrane proteins to alter cellular functions that lead to disease. Recent work has shown that the local membrane environment made up of specific lipids surrounding the protein may be critical in regulating their function. Over the past several decades, supported lipid bilayers (SLB) have emerged as a useful model membrane system to investigate these essential protein functions along with their lipid environment because they can be compatible with wide range of surface-based analytical techniques to quantitatively analyze the biological outcome. However, it is still challenging to capture membrane proteins in functional states along with the native components of the plasma membrane. In this thesis, I proposed a novel strategy to take native cell membrane vesicles budded directly from living cell plasma membranes as intermediates to incorporate the native lipids and proteins into SLB platforms, without suffering from the significant downsides of traditional detergent-based reconstitution. This strategy allows preservation of the complexity of the cell plasma membrane and retention of the natural protein structure and functionality. Another critical advance I introduced to this platform was integration of supporting surface that is a transparent, conductive polymeric material that not only supports the membrane to increase its robustness, but also is capable of reporting protein function as well. These polymeric materials can be tuned so their mechanical property mimics native tissues and these materials are biocompatible with cell membranes, while their cushioning ability mitigates the deleterious interaction from commonly used silica-based surfaces. Due to the merits of the conducting polymer, I developed a biomembrane-based organic electronic device combining the native lipid environment, functional membrane proteins, soft tissue like supporting surfaces, and an electroactive surface that acts as a sensor and reporter. Altogether, with such a device I have demonstrated a variety of biosensing applications including pathogen detection, antibiotic screening, ligand-receptor binding, lipid constituent detection, and, perhaps most significantly, ion channel monitoring. These ion channel receptors are important therapeutic targets for pain management, yet little is understood about how they actually work and furthermore, the role of the membrane in their functions. This new biosensing platform may prove to be a useful new approach for pharmaceutical screening and development, as well as basic science studies of ion channel regulation and biology.