Membrane Shape and Biological Function

Drs. José Carlos Bozelli Jr and Richard M. Epand have contributed to advance our understanding of the active role of membrane shape in cellular functions. Their groundbreaking research, which revealed an elegant hierarchic coupling between membrane shape and lipid composition, has demonstrated the profound influence of membrane shape on molecular properties. This work, which is of utmost importance, lays the foundation for assembling this book and for further research in the field.

• 1. The Effect of Membrane Deformation on the Spatial Distribution of Lipids. 2. Flexible Surface Model for Lipid-Protein Interactions. 3. Non-Lamellar Phases of Membrane Lipids. 4. Lipid Shape Matters. 5. Continuum Modeling of Lipid Bilayers for Curvature Generation in Cellular Processes. 6. Lipid Membrane Remodeling by (Bio)Polymers and Nanoparticles: Mechanistic Insights From Multi-Scale Simulations. 7. Bicontinuous Inverted Cubic Phases as Tools for Studying the Mechanism of Membrane-Remodeling Proteins. 8. Recognition of Membrane Curvature by the Amphipathic Lipid Packing Sensor (ALPS) Motif. 9. The Bending Rigidity of the Red Blood Cell Cytoplasmic Membrane. 10. Shape and Function of the Golgi Apparatus. 11. Inositol Lipids Are Key to Shaping Membranes and to Define the Cellular Lipid Landscape. 12. Shaping Membranes in Cell-Cell Fusion. 13. Lipid Bilayers as Platforms for Understanding Biological Memory and the Development of Neuromorphic Computing.