| Lyman L. Handy Colloquium Series |
Thursday, November 8, 2007
Proteomics on a Supported Membrane Chip
Paul Cremer
Department of Chemistry, Texas A&M University
Abstract
Supported phospholipid bilayers (SPBs) offer a promising environment to mimic many properties of native cell membranes. As such, these systems hold great promise for creating highly selective biosensors as well as for the design of nanoscale architectures in which membrane proteins may be separated without denaturation. Two important hurdles exist, however, before these systems can be widely exploited in applications. First, SPBs are generally unstable upon exposure to air. Second, there is typically insufficient space between the lower leaflet of the supported bilayer and an underlying planar support to allow full mobility for membrane proteins. In this presentation I will describe recent advances in our laboratory for creating air stable SPBs as well as a novel "double cushion" platform that allows transmembrane proteins to retain lateral mobility.
