Physicochemical and structural properties of molecules at the cell membrane interface are crucial for cellular and other biological functions, and are implicated in numerous diseases including amyloid diseases and bacterial/viral infection. While it is obvious that such properties must be fully characterized for biotechnological and biomedical purposes, the intrinsic complexity of the lipid bilayer environment poses tremendous challenges to most biophysical techniques and biochemical approaches. The Ramamoorthy group has been developing novel membrane mimetics and biophysical (including NMR) approaches to overcome these challenges, and apply them to investigate dynamic structures of membrane proteins and membrane-assisted amyloid aggregation processes. The Biophysical Concert will focus on the following specific topics to highlight the challenges and recent advances:

*Advantages and limitations of "sushi-like" lipid-nanodiscs (Ravula)
*Probing atomic-resolution "hugs and kisses" that enable enzymatic function (Gentry)
*Capturing the amyloid-ghosts red-handed by nanodiscs (Sahoo)
*Atomic-resolution "weed-and-feed" action of amyloid-inhibitors (Cox)