Research

Translocation of nanoparticles, carbon nanotubes and polymers through bilayers

Cell membranes represent a serious protective barrier for external molecules, proteins, nanoparticles and drugs. This barrier is quite efficient in protecting the interior of the cells. However, large nanoscale objects, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been found inside the cells both in direct and indirect biological experiments. Such experiments suggest that carbon nanotubes can efficiently […]

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Equilibrium insertion of nanoscale objects into phospholipid bilayers

S. Pogodin and V.A. Baulin
Current Nanoscience, 7 (5), 721-726 (2011)

Certain membrane proteins, peptides, nanoparticles and nanotubes have rigid structure and fixed shape. They are often viewed as spheres and cylinders with certain surface properties. Single Chain Mean Field theory is used to model the equilibrium insertion of nanoscale spheres and rods into the phospholipid bilayer. […]

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Surface patterning of carbon nanotubes can enhance their penetration through a phospholipid bilayer

S. Pogodin, N.K.H. Slater and V.A. Baulin
ACS Nano, 5 (2), 1141–1146 (2011)

Nanotube patterning may occur naturally upon the spontaneous self-assembly of biomolecules onto the surface of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). It results in periodically alternating bands of surface properties, ranging from relatively hydrophilic to hydrophobic, along the axis of the nanotube. Single-chain mean field (SCMF) […]

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Can a carbon nanotube pierce through a phospholipid bilayer?

S. Pogodin and V.A. Baulin
ACS Nano, 4 (9), 5293–5300 (2010)
Great efficiency to penetrate into living cells is attributed to carbon nanotubes due to a number of direct and indirect observations of carbon nanotubes inside the cells. However, a direct evidence of physical translocation of nanotubes through phospholipid bilayers and the exact microscopic mechanism of their […]

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