The Sanderson Group Homepage
Department of Chemistry
Durham University, Durham, UK
Research in the Sanderson group focuses on the interactions of proteins and peptides with membranes.
Research Areas:
- Understanding the activity of membrane-active peptides (with Dr J A Mosely).
- Characterisation of the membrane activity of proteins from enveloped viruses (with Dr R P Yeo).
- The development of new analytical methods for studying lipids and membranes, including Raman tweezing (with Dr A D Ward) and linear dichroism spectroscopy (with Prof A Rodger).
- The development of model systems for studying the fundamental properties of the interactions between aromatic amino acids and phospholipids.
Recent Publications:
"The Innate Reactivity of a Membrane Associated Peptide Towards Lipids: Acyl Transfer to Melittin Without Enzyme Catalysis",
Robert H. Dods, Jackie A. Mosely and John M. Sanderson, Org. Biomol. Chem., 2012, 10, in press.
"Acyl Transfer from Phosphocholine Lipids to Melittin",
Catherine J. Pridmore, Jackie A. Mosely, Alison Rodger and John M. Sanderson, Chem. Commun., 2011, 47, 1422–1424.
"Influence of Lipids on the Interfacial Disposition of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Matrix Protein",
Helen K. McPhee, Jennifer L. Carlisle, Andrew Beeby, Victoria A. Money, Scott M. D. Watson, Robert P. Yeo and John M. Sanderson,
Langmuir, 2011, 27, 304–311.
News
• EPSRC Programme Grant
Dr Sanderson is a co-investigator on a large collaborative grant awarded by the
EPSRC. The
CAPiTALS programme aims to
engineer the assembly of soft matter, such as lipid membranes, into well defined architectures that exhibit
compositional asymmetry. For membranes this includes the lateral segregation and
bilayer asymmetry in response to factors such as membrane curvature. This molecular membrane engineering approach will
ultimately lead to new biologically-inspired devices and "smart" soft materials.
To learn more, click here.
• Review of Membrane Kinetics
Recent developments in the understanding of molecular diffusion phenomena in membranes are reviewed. Both model bilayers and biological
membranes are considered in respect of lateral diffusion, rotational diffusion and transverse diffusion (flip-flop). For model systems,
particular attention is paid to recent data obtained using surface-specific techniques such as sum frequency generation vibrational
spectroscopy on supported lipid bilayers, and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy on giant unilamellar vesicles, both of which
have yielded new insights into the intrinsic rates of diffusion and the energetic barriers to processes such as lipid flip-flop.
Advances in single-molecule and many-molecule fluorescence methodologies have enabled the observation of processes such as anomalous
diffusion for some membrane species in biological membranes. These are discussed in terms of new models for the role of membrane
interactions with the cytoskeleton, the effects of molecular crowding in membranes, and the formation of lipid rafts. The diffusion of
peptides, proteins and lipids is considered, particularly in relation to the means by which antimicrobial peptide activity may be
rationalized in terms of membrane poration and lipid flip-flop.
To access the full text of the article, click here.
The Lab
The Sanderson group is located in the Department of Chemistry and the Biophysical Sciences Institute (BSI) at Durham University. To read more about the BSI, click here.
