Lipid-protein interactions modulate key events in cell communication, yet our knowledge of molecular structure and dynamics at the lipid-protein interface is still limited. This is because of the complexity of biological membranes and the difficulty of studying such interactions in intact membranes at the single molecule level. A significant ongoing effort in our lab is to construct model membrane systems to study the correlated diffusion of lipid protein complexes. Ongoing work is to investigate the interactions between PIP2 and cationic peptide sequences and protein domains that localize to the membrane during cell signaling.

• Li, X.; Smith, A. W. Quantifying Lipid Mobility and Peptide Binding for Gram-Negative and Gram-Positive Model Supported Lipid Bilayers. J Phys Chem B 2019, 123 (49), 10433-10440. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.9b09709.

• Li, X.; Shi, X.; Kaliszewski, M. J.; Smith, A. W. Chapter Three - Fluorescence cross-correlation spectroscopy of lipid-peptide interactions on supported lipid bilayers. Adv Biomem and Lip Self-Assem 2019, 29, 49-68. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.abl.2019.01.005

• Shi, X.; Kohram, M.; Zhuang, X.; Smith, A. W. Interactions and Translational Dynamics of Phosphatidylinositol Bisphosphate (PIP2) Lipids in Asymmetric Lipid Bilayers. Langmuir 2016, 32 (7), 1732-1741. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.5b02814.