The response of cell membranes to the local physical environment significantly determines many biological processes and the practical applications of biomaterials. A better understanding of the dynamic assembly and environmental response of lipid membranes can help understand these processes and design novel nanomaterials for biomedical applications. The present work demonstrates the directed assembly of lipid monolayers, in both liquid and gel phases, on the surface of a monolayered reduced graphene oxide (rGO). The results from atomic force microscopy indicate that the hydrophobic aromatic plane and the defect holes due to reduction of GO sheets, along with the phase state and planar surface pressure of lipids, corporately determine the morphology and lateral structure of the assembled lipid monolayers. The DOPC molecules, in liquid phase, probably spread over the rGO surface with their tails associating closely with the hydrophobic aromatic plane, and accumulate to form circles of high area surrounding the defect holes on rGO sheets. However, the DPPC molecules, in gel phase, prefer to form a layer of continuous membrane covering the whole rGO sheet including defect holes. The strong association between rGO sheets and lipid tails further influences the melting behavior of lipids. This work reveals a dramatic effect of the local structure and surface property of rGO sheets on the substrate-directed assembly and subsequent phase behavior of the supported lipid membranes.
This paper describes the design and operation of the Korean Solar Radio Burst Locator (KSRBL). The KSRBL is a radio spectrometer designed to observe solar decimeter and microwave bursts over a wide band (0.245-18 GHz) as well as to detect the burst locations without interferometry or mechanical sweeping. As a prototype, it is temporarily observing at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO), California, USA, and after commissioning will be operated at the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), Daejeon, Republic of Korea. The control system can agilely choose four 500 MHz intermediate frequency (IF) bands (2 GHz instantaneous bandwidth) from the entire 0.245-18 GHz band, with a standard time resolution of 100 ms, although higher time resolution is possible subject to data-rate constraints. To cover the entire band requires 10 tunings, which are therefore completed in 1 s. Each 500 MHz band is sampled at a 1 GS s À1 (gigasample per second) rate, and 4096 time samples are Fast Fourier transformed (FFT) to 2048 subchannels for a frequency resolution of 0.24 MHz. To cover the entire range also requires two different feeds, a dual-frequency Yagi centered at 245 and 410 MHz, and a broadband spiral feed covering 0.5-18 GHz. The dynamic range is 35 dB over the 0.5-18 GHz band, and 55 dB in the 245 and 410 MHz bands, set by using switchable attenuators in steps of 5 dB. Each 500 MHz IF has a further 63 dB of settable analog attenuation. The characteristics of the spiral feed provide the ability to locate flaring sources on the Sun to typically 2′. The KSRBL will provide a broadband view of solar bursts for the purposes of studying solar activity for basic research, and for monitoring solar activity as the source of Space Weather and solar-terrestrial effects.
Addressing the devastating threat of drug-resistant pathogens requires the discovery of new antibiotics with advanced action mechanisms and/or novel strategies for drug design. Herein, from a biophysical perspective, we design a class of synthetic antibacterial complexes with specialized architectures based on melittin (Mel), a natural antimicrobial peptide, and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), a clinically available agent, as building blocks that show potent and architecture-modulated antibacterial activity. Among the complexes, the flexibly linear complex consisting of one Mel terminally connected with a long-chained PEG (e.g., PEG12k–1*Mel) shows the most pronounced improvement in performance compared with pristine Mel, with up to 500% improvement in antimicrobial efficiency, excellent in vitro activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens (over a range of minimal inhibitory concentrations of 2–32 µg mL−1), a 68% decrease in in vitro cytotoxicity, and a 57% decrease in in vivo acute toxicity. A lipid-specific mode of action in membrane recognition and an accelerated “channel” effect in perforating the bacterial membrane of the complex are described. Our results introduce a new way to design highly efficient and low-toxicity antimicrobial drugs based on architectural modulations with clinically available agents.
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