Collective Dynamics in Lipid Membranes: From Fundamental Physics to Health and Disease

Lipid bilayers, the main matrix of cell membranes, are evolutionary marvels of molecular self-assemblies. They host a myriad of vital biological processes and are ubiquitous in a variety of research areas at the interface of biophysics, health care, and biotechnology. To understand the functional properties of lipid membranes and fully utilize their potential in biotechnological applications, it is imperative to investigate biophysical membrane properties on the length and time scales of key biological processes. Among those, collective membrane fluctuations and molecular reorganization remain poorly understood despite their crucial role in various cellular phenomena, including protein-membrane interactions, viral budding, and signaling events. This talk will highlight recent advances in neutron scattering studies and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations illuminating the role of collective dynamics in regulating viscoelastic membrane properties and their response to compositional changes and environmental cues. Specific focus will be placed on new findings related to the dynamic response of membranes to cholesterol content and protein binding events. These findings provide new insights into the behavior of lipid membranes on largely unexplored spatiotemporal scales, with far-reaching implications in biological function and future designs of engineered membranes and artificial cells with real-world functionalities.