Events
Events:
Colloquium on Lipid Assemblies Oct 04, 2019
IISER Pune is happy to announce:
Seventh institute colloquium:
Lipid Assemblies: Bending and Wetting
Dr Guruswamy Kumaraswamy, CSIR-NCL
Date: Friday, October 4, 2019
Time: 5:15 pm
Venue: Sir CV Raman Auditorium, Lecture Hall Complex IISER Pune
Abstract:
Lipid assemblies are ubiquitous in Nature and are essential to life since they assemble to form membranes that constitute cell walls. How lipid assemblies bend is determined by their local curvature, a crucial aspect of their structure. The text book view teaches us that the local curvature in lipid assemblies is controlled by a remarkably simple geometric packing parameter, the ratio of the size of the polar headgroup to the hydrophobic lipid tail. Our work shows that there are other routes to controlling curvature in lipid assemblies. We work with a model lipid, monoolein and demonstrate general selection rules for additives that are capable of inducing curvature transitions in monoolein/water systems. Establishing such rational design rules represents a significant advance in understanding the structure of lipid assemblies. Our work also led us to a serendipitous discovery, that lipid assemblies can unravel near surfaces to change surface wettability. This result led to the development of lipid dispersions that are remarkably efficient in delivering agrochemicals to plant surfaces. I will describe collaborations with industry to develop products to deliver semiochemicals for pest control.
All are welcome to attend.
