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			Biological Physics Supramolecular Structures Lab Lösche Group
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			Homepage: Supramolecular Structures Lab Ordered molecular assemblies form the structural basis of life. Their length scales range from nanometers, the thickness of a biomembrane, to micrometers, the length of polymers that form the cytoskeleton. They are chemically diverse – building blocks include proteins, nucleic acids, lipids and polysaccharides – and formidably complex. As are the underlying interactions: Van-der-Waals, electrostatic, hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic forces all contribute to their specific organization. Since these interactions are characterized by thermal energies, the resulting structures are highly dynamic, capable of reorganizing in response to a changing environment. Traditional biological tools have been invaluable in identifying the molecular components of biomolecular assemblies and determining their qualitative functions. Yet, an integrated understanding of the underlying mechanisms and principles, as well as their dynamic function is largely incomplete. Physics contributes to this understanding on many levels, from providing a theoretical framework for the quantitative description of Soft Condensed Matter to providing experimental characterization tools for probing the dynamics of function, assembly and disassembly. Progress in the understanding of supramolecular complexes will impact science and technology areas far beyond biology. Already to date it exerts a significant impact on materials engineering and biotechnology, and is likely to extend into areas yet unforeseen.		News April 2008 Loesche group receives Pilot Award from American Health Assistance Foundation (AHAF) for work on molecular origin of Alzheimer's Disease. In a grad student project, we will explore the dependence of amyloid-b oligomer interactions with membranes on lipid chemistry. June 2007 NIRT-postdoc Frank Heinrich presents *keynote lecture* about his research on the interaction of amyloid-β oligomers with membranes at the European Conference on Neutron Scattering (ECNS 2007) in Lund, Sweden. Find the abstract here. June 2007 Graduate Research School a great success ... The International Graduate Research School Nanoscale Engineering of the Biointerface in Playa del Aro, Spain, was attended by 42 graduate students and post-docs of 8 universities or research institutions. 12 lecturers were from 9 institutions located in 6 countries. Work in progress was discussed in 2 poster sessions. More ... May 2007 Membrane Molecular Dynamics Simulations from Deserno lab hit cover of Nature Magazine Markus Deserno's work at the Max-Planck Institute for Polymer Science in Mainz, Germany, has led to the development of a realistic membrane model which is computationally so efficient that large membrane patches can now be modeled for long time snapshots. This has been exploited in a ground-breaking investigation of protein-membrane interactions that introduce curvature into the membrane and lead to vesiculation – a key process in biology. Deserno arrives as a faculty member in the CMU Physics Depertment in September. More ... Read the abstract and find the full text article (freely accessed from within the CMU domain). May 2007 Nanoscale Engineering of the Biointerface A Max-Planck / NSF Graduate Research School on Polymer Materials is held from May-28 to June-01 in Playa del Aro, Spain. This is your chance to meet fellow graduate students, post-docs, and lecturers from 9 research groups in 6 countries, and learn about exciting research on biomembrane models. The number of participants is limited to 60. March 2007 stBLM publication Sparsely tethered Bilayer Lipid Membranes (stBLMs) are discussed in detail in a recent research paper from the Lösche lab that has now appeared in the AVS journal Biointerphases. Biointerphases is an open-access journal for the Biomaterials Interface community issued by the American Vacuum Society. PDF copies: Publication and Supporting Information. News Archive ...
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