Neal Lab
Multivariate Optical Spectroscopy of
Biomolecular Assemblies in Complex Fluids
We are interested in the complex fluids that form spontaneously by self-association of amphiphilic biomolecules. The resulting molecular scale order in the composition of these fluids (for example, liquid crystals, surfactant micelles, lipid vesicles and protein dispersions) can produce intriguing macroscopic properties and interesting analytical opportunities and challenges. For example, bicelles, mixtures of long and short chain phospholipids, exhibit some features of liquid crystals, including the ability to align with applied magnetic fields. This property makes bicelles potentially useful in important applications, such as determination of integral membrane protein structures using NMR spectroscopy. The effective use of this complex fluid in any application requires a thorough understanding of the arrangement of lipid molecules in the medium. Our work using tagged lipids demonstrated that the widely held view that bicelles were comprised of bilayer disks is incomplete and suggested the presence of extended bilayer networks similar to the one depicted here. Shortly after our publication, this morphology was confirmed using X-ray analysis. 
