Recent Studies on the Behaviour of Lipid Membranes

Dear Colleagues,

The construction of artificial models that resemble biological membranes in form and functions is a rapidly growing area of research.  Lipids are the main components of biological membranes; however, cell membranes exhibit a complex composition of lipids and proteins to perform the functions essential for life, such as transport, energy harvesting and signalling. This complexity makes challenging the interpretation of the physicochemical properties ruling these processes. To overcome this, simplified model membrane systems are valid platforms to unveil the nature of the interactions of biological membranes.

The most prominent model membrane systems are liposomes (mainly giant and large vesicles that can be easily monitored through microscopy techniques), monolayers and solid supported bilayers. All these systems allow mimicking of the properties of cell membranes, such as lipid composition, lipid curvature, domains, and rafts.

This Special Issue aims to collect experimental and theoretical investigations on the interactions between model lipid membranes and different kinds of molecules.

For this Special Issue of Membranes, authors are invited to present their recent results, and both original papers and reviews are welcome.

Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the characterization and the dynamical behaviour of lipid membranes with drugs, proteins, fatty acids, polymers, fluorescent probes, and nanoparticles. The interactions can also be predicted theoretically with molecular dynamic (MD) simulations.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Lucia Sessa
Dr. Ylenia Miele
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.