The basis of a biological cell membrane is a lipid bilayer containing functional proteins. Its purpose is to form a selective barrier that separates the aqueous fluids inside and outside of the cell. To understand a membranes function we need to understand the relationship between its structure and properties. Our research aims are to determine how structure of molecules affects their interactions and so packing and organisation within the membrane, hence membrane properties. The objective of this experiment is to use x-ray and neutron reflectivity and grazing incidence x-ray diffraction to characterise PE monolayers containing different anionic lipids commonly found in bacterial cell membranes. In so doing we hope to shed light on the reasons for differences in composition between bacterial and mammalian cell membranes.
