
This talk will briefly summarize research projects inspired by biological questions. Asking how molecules on the early Earth assemble into protocells of RNA surrounded by a membrane led to our discovery that the building blocks of RNA (nucleobases and sugars) bind to fatty-acid membranes and enhance stability (Black et al. PNAS 2013). Asking how groups of lipids diffuse within a membrane led to our measurement of growth exponents for membrane domains (Stanich et al. 2013). Asking whether tension in a membrane can make those domains appear or disappear led to our quantification of how tension changes miscibility temperatures (Portet et al. BJ 2012). Asking how sub-micron, fluctuating domains might arise in a membrane led to our determination of the membrane’s effective critical dynamic exponent -- the first successful systematic measurement of this fundamental physical parameter in any 2-dimensional system with conserved order parameter (Honerkamp-Smith et al. PRL 2012).

This talk will briefly summarize research projects inspired by biological questions. Asking how molecules on the early Earth assemble into protocells of RNA surrounded by a membrane led to our discovery that the building blocks of RNA (nucleobases and sugars) bind to fatty-acid membranes and enhance stability (Black et al. PNAS 2013). Asking how groups of lipids diffuse within a membrane led to our measurement of growth exponents for membrane domains (Stanich et al. 2013). Asking whether tension in a membrane can make those domains appear or disappear led to our quantification of how tension changes miscibility temperatures (Portet et al. BJ 2012). Asking how sub-micron, fluctuating domains might arise in a membrane led to our determination of the membrane’s effective critical dynamic exponent -- the first successful systematic measurement of this fundamental physical parameter in any 2-dimensional system with conserved order parameter (Honerkamp-Smith et al. PRL 2012).