AVS 52nd International Symposium
    Biomaterial Interfaces Monday Sessions
       Session BI-MoM

Paper BI-MoM3
Neutron Scattering and Diffraction for Molecular-Scale Characterization of Biomimetic Membranes

Monday, October 31, 2005, 9:00 am, Room 313

Session: BioMaterials and Neutrons (BioMaN) I
Presenter: M. Loesche, Johns Hopkins University and CNBT at the NIST Center for Neutron Research
Correspondent: Click to Email
Nanotechnology and molecular bioengineering are making ever deepening inroads into our daily lives. Physicochemical and biotechnological achievements in the design of physiologically active supramolecular assemblies have brought about an urgent need for new means of characterizing them at the molecular and submolecular levels. Because surfaces and interfaces play a pivotal role in this field, surface-sensitive neutron and x-ray scattering techniques have become particularly important for characterization. The CNBT consortium, located at the NCNR, is a biophysics partnership that utilizes neutron scattering, tightly interfaced with MD simulations, for advanced research in membrane biology and biotechnology. A new neutron spectrometer – the Advanced Neutron Reflectometer and Diffractometer, AND/R – has been commissioned which is optimized for surface-sensitive neutron scattering. In this talk, I will discuss current highlights of research performed on the AND/R, including investigations of peptidemembrane interactions and the molecular-scale characterization of model bilayer membranes tethered to solid supports.