SPRING 2010 SPECIAL SEMINAR
Dennis Bong
Ohio State University
Department of Chemistry
Designed Molecular Recognition at
the Lipid-Water Interface
Tuesday March 9, 2010
3:00 p.m. in Silver Center, Room 1003
Host: Zlatko Bacic
Research efforts are focused on design and synthesis of novel peptide and lipid structures
for study of molecular recognition in aqueous solution and at the lipid-water interface.
We are in particular interested how peptide-lipid and lipid-lipid recognition can initiate
selective membrane chemistry, such as membrane fusion and permeability changes in both
synthetic and cellular membranes. Our group applies the tools of organic synthesis,
biophysical analysis and cell biology to address fundamental questions of membrane
chemistry and biology that have ramifications for drug delivery and bioengineering. We
have recently designed three synthetic membrane fusion systems that selectively fuse
synthetic vesicles. Two different small molecule recognition strategies were employed at
the lipid-water interface to achieve selectivity: 1) a native peptide heterodimerization
between vancomycin and D-Ala-D-Ala and 2) a synthetic recognition between cyanuric
acid and melamine derivatized peptide and lipid. Using these two systems, we have found
that the lipid membrane fusion reaction is strongly affected by membrane composition and
fusogen membrane activation; we believe these biophysical aspects of membrane fusion to
operate in native biomembrane fusion as well.