Membranes: Where Chemistry and Physics Converge for Biology
A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Biological Membranes".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2025 | Viewed by 10
Special Issue Editors
Interests: fluorescence fluctuation; molecular dynamics; super-resolution microscopy; membrane models
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: self-assembly; polymer-lipid hybrid vesicle; giant unilamellar vesicles; protein-lipid complexes; biomimetic model; membrane biophysics; cancer cell biology; protein folding; membrane protein; membrane interaction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Biological membranes, specifically lipid bilayers, serve as hubs for cellular communication. They are not merely a structural interface segregating cells from the extracellular environment; rather, their compositional units are highly dynamic and heterogeneous, and the 2D surface provides them with the supportive conditions ideal for initiating and sustaining biological functions. The remarkable diversity in molecular composition, including phospholipids, cholesterol, sphingolipids, and integral membrane proteins, governs the physicochemical properties of these membranes, such as mechanical stiffness, spontaneous curvature, and electrostatic characteristics. Emerging studies are unraveling the crucial role of such mechanochemical features and the collective behavior of membranes in cellular functions. For instance, the stiffness and fluidity of the membrane, which are intrinsically related to lipid composition, play a key role in potentiating membrane-receptor signaling in immune cells, such as T cells and NK cells. However, this is an active area of research that has not yet matured.
With the success of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, which has prevented millions of deaths around the world, drug delivery platforms such as liposomes, and particularly their membranes, are once again at the centre of global attention. Liposomes are effective carriers for mRNA in COVID-19 vaccines, but they lack tissue specificity, thereby resulting in off-target effects that harm healthy cells. Next-generation drug delivery particles should therefore be able to overcome these challenges. Significant attention is given to naturally derived membrane-based drug delivery particles and innovative biomimetic platforms with precisely controlled membrane mechanical properties and functionally engineered surfaces. Studies using naturally produced extracellular vesicles (EVs) provide compelling evidence of their superiority over conventional liposomes, particularly demonstrating prolonged persistence in peripheral blood and minimal toxicity.
Dr. Dilip Shrestha
Dr. James Ho
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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.
Keywords
- stiffness
- membrane curvature
- membrane heterogeneity
- liposomes
- next-generation drug delivery particles
- biomimetic nanoparticles
- membrane mechanics
- computer simulation of membrane
- fluorescence correlations spectroscopy
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