The electrochemical study of membrane function has always had an imaginative and appealing aspect to it, because electrochemical methods are so physically adapted to biological membrane studies. Both subject areas have interfacial chemistry and physics in common. During the last years a couple of techniques were introduced, beginning with the original free standing bilayer lipid membrane experiments through to the supported self assembled membranes to the highly sophisticated supported and tethered membrane models available today.
While at the time of its initial development the membrane electrochemical approach was viewed with some scepticism, it is now very much accepted as a valid method to understand membrane structure and function. The lecture will point out, in what way and in which areas this new approach has uniquely advanced the understanding of biological membrane science in the last 30 years, at the application of membrane electrochemical science to new technology in fields such as biological sensing, bionanotechnology and biomedicine.
Andrew Nelson is Professor at the School of Chemistry at the University of Leeds. His main fields of research focus on aspects of biological membranes, like organised phospholipid layers, surface induced phase transitions or toxicity sensing. In the Leeds Center of Self Organising Molecular Systems (SOMS), Professor Nelson and his team developed novel hybrid devices which combine biological-like membranes with inorganic substrates to act either as biosensors or as miniature “laboratories” for analysing biological molecules.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Fritz Scholz