Shape Transformations of Lipid Bilayers Following Rapid Cholesterol Uptake (2016)
Journal Article
Rahimi, M., Regan, D., Arroyo, M., Subramaniam, A., Stone, H., & Staykova, M. (2016). Shape Transformations of Lipid Bilayers Following Rapid Cholesterol Uptake. Biophysical Journal, 111(12), 2651-2657. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2016.11.016

High cholesterol levels in the blood increase the risk of atherosclerosis. A common explanation is that the cholesterol increase in the plasma membrane perturbs the shape and functions of cells by disrupting the cell signaling pathways and the format... Read More about Shape Transformations of Lipid Bilayers Following Rapid Cholesterol Uptake.

Biophysical dissection of schistosome septins: Insights into oligomerization and membrane binding (2016)
Journal Article
Zeraik, A., Staykova, M., Fontes, M., Nemuraitė, I., Quinlan, R., Araújo, A., & DeMarco, R. (2016). Biophysical dissection of schistosome septins: Insights into oligomerization and membrane binding. Biochimie, 131, 96-105. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biochi.2016.09.014

Septins are GTP-binding proteins that are highly conserved among eukaryotes and which are usually membrane-associated. They have been linked to several critical cellular functions such as exocytosis and ciliogenesis, but little mechanistic detail is... Read More about Biophysical dissection of schistosome septins: Insights into oligomerization and membrane binding.

Sticking and sliding of lipid bilayers on deformable substrates (2016)
Journal Article
Stubbington, L., Arroyo, M., & Staykova, M. (2016). Sticking and sliding of lipid bilayers on deformable substrates. Soft Matter, 13, 181-186. https://doi.org/10.1039/c6sm00786d

We examine here the properties of lipid bilayers coupled to deformable substrates. We show that by changing the extent of the substrate hydrophilicity, we can control the membrane–substrate coupling and the response of the bilayer to strain deformati... Read More about Sticking and sliding of lipid bilayers on deformable substrates.