NIH HPC News & Announcements
Final Biowulf 20th anniversary seminar: Dr Alexander Sodt (NICHD)
Date: 25 November 2019 10:11:04
From: Susan Chacko
The Biowulf 20th anniversary seminar series concludes with:
Modeling complex biological membranes
Alexander Sodt
Stadtman Investigator, NICHD
Tuesday, 3 Dec 2019
11 am - noon
Bldg 50, Rm 1227
Abstract:
Due to the dynamic nature and constitutional complexity of a biological
membrane, a number of critical questions remain unanswered about its
effect on function. How does the compositional asymmetry of the plasma
membrane determine its role as a “solvent” for transmembrane proteins?
What are the many roles of cholesterol in membranes and how much is in
the inner and outer leaflet of the plasma membrane? Do all lipids play a
role in defining the structural and mechanical properties of membranes,
or are some purely for signaling? Our unit at the NIH applies molecular
and continuum simulations to determine the composition-dependent
properties of membranes, as well as to investigate the mechanisms that
proteins apply to reshape them.
This seminar will report the discovery, at the NIH, of the structures of
membranes enriched in cholesterol and the unexpected ways in which
cholesterol switches mechanical properties depending on composition. We
will also cover the newly discovered properties of sphingolipids that
change the mechanical properties of bilayers in a non-linear manner. In
addition, the talk will highlight one of the NIH’s applications of
machine learning applied to biological discovery. A hidden Markov model
identifies and categorizes structural motifs for further physical
analysis, reducing the apparent complexity of lipid dynamics to a
manageable size. Finally, neutron scattering is one of a limited range
of experimental techniques to the fine structure of such a dynamical
material as a bilayer. This seminar will look at the development of a
new approach to compare simulations to small-angle neutron scattering to
reveal nanometer-scale molecular structure.
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