Advances in Biomembranes and Lipid Self-Assembly

Aleš Iglič received his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in physics and M.Sc. degree in biophysics from the Department of Physics, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, all from the University of Ljubljana. He is a Full Professor and the Head of Laboratory of Biophysics of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at University of Ljubljana. His main research interests are in electrostatics, mechanics and statistical physics of lipid nanostructures and biological membranes. He is devoted to higher education, basic research in biophysics and close contacts to clinical practice. Prof. Iglič was visiting scientist and professor at Åbo Academy University in Turku (Finland), Friedrich Schiller University in Jena (Germany) and Czech Technical University in Prague (Czech Republic). He established collaborations with researchers from different universities across the Europe, USA and India and was supervisor of many M.Sc., Ph.D. and postdoctoral students from Slovenia, Czech Republic, Poland, Iran, Bulgaria, Germany, India and Israel. Since 2009 is the editor of Elsevier book series »Advances in Planar Lipid Bilayers and Liposomes« (APLBL). Michael Rappolt has been appointed as Professor of Lipid Biophysics (School of Food Science and Nutrition) in April 2013. He received his MSc and PhD in physics from the University of Hamburg and achieved his habilitation at the University of Ljubljana in the Faculty of Health Sciences. He was Senior Researcher at the Synchrotron Trieste Outstation (Italy), Institute of Biophysics and Nanosystems Research (Austrian Academy of Sciences), before becoming Assistant Professor at Graz University of Technology. Professor Michael Rappolt is a leading authority on investigating the structure and dynamics of lipid membranes using small-angle X-ray scattering. His recent research activities have concentrated on the study of drug/membrane interactions with potential applications to drug delivery and food. Further research topics concentrate on characterising crystallization processes in food, the investigation of colloid interfaces and the determination of particle structures on the nanoscale. He also seeks to transfer standard measurement techniques applied in food research – such as mechanic (sound and shear) and thermodynamic sample manipulations to synchrotron sites – to understand food on a smaller (nanometre) and faster (microsecond) scale. Dr. Patricia María Losada Pérez is a research scientist in experimental thermal physics and soft matter, affiliated with the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Brussels, Belgium. She is associated with the “Experimental Thermal Physics and Soft Matter” laboratory and also holds a voluntary research position at KU Leuven in the Soft Matter & Biophysics group .

• 1. Elucidating metal-membrane interactions through a biophysical lens2. Application of a Supported Lipid Bilayer for the Leaflet-resolved Analysis3. Artificial biomembrane models using giant polymer vesicles4. Linking Chemical Degradation and Physical Instability of Lipid Vesicles5. Do Model Membranes Still Matter?6. Preparation Methods and Applications of Biomimetic Membranes7. Perturbed Structure of a Vesicle by an Antimicrobial Peptide8. Recent Advances in Computational Modeling of the Effects of Micro/Nanoparticle Interactions on Vesicle Morphology9. Highlight – Fusogenic Liposomes to Overcome the Gram-Negative Bacterial Outer Membrane Barrier10. Investigation of Biophysical and Nano-Mechanical Properties of Asymmetric Artificial Lipid Membranes11. Recent advances of differential scanning calorimetry in the study of membranotropic activity and lipid biomembrane affinity12. Interaction of peptides/proteins/bioactive compounds with single giant unilamellar vesicles under more biological conditions13. Breaking the Balance: Lipid Giant Vesicles and Membrane Simulation as a Window into Lipid Membrane Parameters Homeostatic Failure