SUMMER RESEARCH TRAINING IN MEMBRANE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2008 NSF REU SITE PROGRAM at the UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
The Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, College of Engineering is pleased to offer this research project as part of the 2008 summer NSF-REU Site Program administered by the Department of Pharmacology & Cell Biophysics.  Students interested in this project are urged to contact Professor Fried to discover more about the project, learn what your responsibilities will be during the ten-week research training program.
Project #:  08 – 006c       Faculty Supervisor/Mentor: Joel R. Fried, Ph.D., Professor, Chemical and Materials Engineering and Genome Science (GRI), College of Engineering Email: joel.fried@uc.edu
Self-Assembly and Channel Protein Incorporation in Bio-mimetic Block Copolymer Membrane
General background and significance of the project: Membrane proteins such as ion channels, water channels, calcium channels, G-protein coupled receptors, and others are incorporated in the lipid bilayer of cell membranes. It is possible to assemble membrane protein/lipid bilayer systems in the laboratory as free-standing membranes or on supported porous polymer supports. Also, such system can be studied in silico through computer simulation to study protein structure and function. Recently, it has been shown that membrane proteins can also be incorporated directly in bilayers formed from the self-assembly of amphiphilic block copolymers that have hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments as do biological phospholipids. Surprisingly, membrane protein function is maintained and such membranes display good stability and have significant potential for biosensor applications.
Brief description of proposed research and activities for the 10-week REU period: During the summer, focus will be on establishing procedures to study a model protein (gramicidin A)/block copolymer system (PMOXA-PDMS-PMOXA) in silico following protocols that have been established for protein (gramicidin A)/lipid (DMPC) bilayer systems (see Wang & Fried, Soft Matter 3, 1041 (2007)). A goal is to use simulation techniques for the first time to investigate how protein structure may be affected by the presence of a polymer matrix compared to one composed of phospholipids and how structure may affect performance. An opportunity may be available to construct an actual membrane in the laboratory and to evaluate performance.
What the REU Student can gain from participating in this project: Significant contributions made by the REU student will result in co-authorship on conference presentations and papers, and peer-reviewed articles arising from the research. It is expected that experience gained in this project can be used to investigate other systems with larger membrane proteins such as bacteriorhodopsin (see Polymer 47, 2935 (2006)).