ICIUAIC

Molecular biophysics and medical physics

Main research interests

  • Molecular approach to understanding interactions between membrane-active peptides and biomimetic membranes
  • ‘Single-molecule chemistry’ and ‘stochasting sensing’ with protein nanopores
  • Peptides-protein interactions
  • Virtual instrumentation

Main techniques involved

single-molecule electrophysiology, peptide engineering, fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy, reconstruction of biomimetic lipid systems (BLM, LUV, SUV, MLV)

Relevant “state of the art” equipment and techniques

Patch-clamp amplifiers (HEKA and Molecular Devices)

Electrometers for cell electrophysiology (Harvard Apparatus, Keithley)

Differential amplifiers for intra- and extracellular electrophysiology (DP-301, IE-210, Harvard Apparatus)

Vibration-free platforms with elm screening (HEKA, ThorLabs)

FluoroMax-4 spectrofluorimeter (Horiba Jobin Yvon)

Integrated system for image acquisition and digital data post-processing sCMOS (Neo-Andor Technology)

Axiovert 40 CFL inverted epi-fluorescence microscope (Zeiss)

UV-VIS spectrophotometer (Ocean Optics)

Peltier temperature regulator for bilayer chambers and microscopy (Harvard Apparatus)

PIP 5 pipette puller (HEKA)

Ultra-precise motor micromanipulator for pipette positioning (HEKA)

Nanoliter injector (Harvard Apparatus)

Liposomes-manufacturing items (sonicator, chromatography columns, waveform generators, Avanti Mini-Extruder)

National Instruments technologies (software and hardware)

Impedance spectroscopy setup

Inverted microscopes

Selected publications

  1. Loredana Mereuţă, Alina Asandei, Tudor Luchian, Meet me on the other side: trans-bilayer modulation of a model voltage-gated ion channel activity by membrane electrostatics asymmetry, PLoS One, 2011, 6(9): e25276. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0025276
  2.  Alina Asandei, Aurelia Apetrei, Yoonkyung Park, Kyung-Soo Hahm, Tudor Luchian, Investigation of Single-Molecule Kinetics Mediated by Weak Hydrogen-Bonds Within a Biological Nanopore, Langmuir, 2011, 27 (1), 19-24
  3. Aurelia Apetrei, Alina Asandei, Yoonkyung Park, Kyung-Soo Hahm, Mathias Winterhalter, Tudor Luchian, Unimolecular study of the interaction between the outer membrane protein OmpF from E. coli and an analogue of the HP(2–20) antimicrobial peptide, Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes, 2010, 42(2), pp. 173-180
  4. Loredana Mereuţă, Tudor Luchian, Yoonkyung Park, Kyung-Soo Hahm,The modulatory role played by lipids unsaturation upon the membrane interaction and translocation of an analogue (HPA3) of the HP(2–20) antimicrobial peptide, Journal of Bioenergetics and Biomembranes, 2009, 41, 79-84
  5. Tudor Luchian, Loredana Mereuta, Phlorizin- and 6-Ketocholestanol-Mediated Antagonistic Modulation of Alamethicin Activity in Phospholipid Planar Membranes, Langmuir, 2006, 22, 8452-8457
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Group members