Our laboratory is focused on understanding how lipids contribute to membrane function and organismal fitness from synthetic protocells to microorganisms. We are interested in topics ranging from how membranes contributed to the origin of cellular life, to identifying membrane-based targets for antibiotic resistance. One of our central aims is to mine a repertoire of biological innovations from the simplest microorganisms to elucidate the minimal set of principles and components required to assemble a robust and responsive synthetic cell membrane. 

Our group will work on the design principles of functional synthetic membranes from the bottom up. This work is motivated by the questions “What role did membranes play in the origin and evolution of the cell?” and “What are the minimal features of a membrane that are necessary to support life?”

Methodological and Technical Expertise

• Lipid biochemistry
• Lipidomics
• Microbiology: cultivation, genetics, physiological characterization
• Membrane biophysics
• In-vitro model membrane systems

Research

• Membrane Organization

  Understand how lipid ordering affects membrane organization and protein dynamics and function using bacterial model organisms. In particular we will elucidate the role of bacterial sterol analogues in tuning membrane protein function and dynamics, and the link between lipid ordering and mechanisms of antibiotic resistance.

• Minimal Membranes

  Elucidate the minimal set of features of a membrane that are required to support life. This work will begin by trying to elucidate the simplest means to construct a responsive synthetic membrane capable of adjusting its composition to maintain robustness in response to environmental changes (e.g. temperature and pH). The design of such a minimal membrane will be inspired from the architecture of Mycoplasma, some of the simplest free living organisms.

• Primitive Membranes

  Explore how RNA-lipid interactions could have contributed to the emergence of cellular life and how these interactions can be applied to design novel responsive synthetic membrane systems.