The PI's research proposes to study the effect of flow on the molecular organization of lipid and lipid/protein membranes by employing experiments and computational methods. He will make model lipid membranes and use fluorescent microscopy to investigate the effect of flow on protein and lipid mobility. Many cell types such as erythrocytes and neutrophils are regularly exposed to stress and deformation in a flow field that affect the behavior of proteins in membrane. This kind of stress stimulus has profound biochemical effects on endothelial cells grown under flow conditions. Other evidence, such as the alteration of membrane fluidity in disease states, suggests that membrane/external flow interactions are important. The PI hypothesized that the molecular organization of the membrane can be altered by flow-induced stress, and that this alteration can have physiological consequences.
To understand molecular interactions, they will develop a multi-scale continuum / molecular dynamic model of the membrane. This multi-scale approach will allow us to model fluid flow as a continuum, but impose its effect on the discrete atoms of the membrane lipids and proteins. As a result, the length of the simulation will be extended to allow investigation of long-range motion and order. It is expect this research to make a significant contribution in molecular dynamics modeling and membrane biology. The computational portion of this project contains several problems that are well suited to the abilities of undergraduates. The educational component of this proposal will be to involve undergraduates in long-term multidisciplinary research. Undergraduate research and extracurricular work have both been shown to have a positive impact on undergraduate development.
