(485g) Lessons From Nature: Analogies Between Protein and Nanoparticle Interactions With Lipid Membranes

Nanoparticle-cell membrane interactions play an important role in nanotoxicology and nanomedicine. Changes in membrane structure, phase behavior, and permeability due to nanoparticle binding are dependent upon nanoparticle size and surface functionality. Knowledge of nanoparticle-membrane interaction mechanisms can be used for the a priori design nanoparticles that are biocompatible or exhibit a desired membrane activity. Taking a lesson from nature, insight can be gained from our understanding of protein-membrane interactions. For example, theories describing lateral capillarity and changes in lipid phase behavior caused by hydrophobic proteins may be extended to hydrophobic nanoparticles embedded within lipid bilayers. Similarly, techniques used to evaluate interactions between hydrophilic (charged) proteins and membranes may be extended to hydrophilic nanoparticles. In this presentation we will describe the use of lipid bilayers and monolayers to determine nanoparticle interactions and draw analogies to proteins as a function of nanoparticle size and surface charge, and lipid composition and phase state. Our studies have been focused on engineered nanoparticles common to environmental and biomedical applications.