Membranes and Cellular Functions

Lipid membranes exhibit non-trivial properties especially at length scales larger than protein molecular sizes. A purely molecular description of membranes is insufficient to arrive at a quantitative understanding of their functions and require meso-scale concepts coming from soft matter and statistical physics. 

In addition, cell membranes involve a wide number of membrane-interacting proteins that can alter the overall physical descriptions of the membrane itself. Our goal is to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of biological membranes and their role in living systems.

Model bio-membranes and cell membranes

To understand the role of lipid membranes and associated proteins involved in essential cellular functions such as transmembrane transport, protein diffusion in membranes, intracellular trafficking, endo/exocytosis, adhesion, cell infection or cell-cell communication, our group develops multidisciplinary approaches that are largely based on synthetic biology, biomimetic systems and quantitative physical measurements. The team has successfully developed several physical approaches for the micromanipulation of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) and cells, combining micropipette aspiration and optical tweezers with confocal microscopy. These technological approaches are particularly powerful for the study of membrane mechanics, both with GUVs and cells, and for studying the roles of membrane curvature and tension. In addition, we use single molecule techniques to study the behaviors of single proteins in membranes. Our research is motivated by close collaborations with biologists and theoreticians, both within and outside Institut Curie.