What we’ve been up to
october 2020
Karan Sharma has joined the lab as a graduate researcher. Welcome Karan!
Our new study of FRET from phase-separated vesicles was published in Chemistry and Physics of Lipids! We present a novel analytical solution for FRET between probes that partition non-uniformly on a spherical surface, and show how vesicle size influences the predicted FRET efficiency. Congrats to all the co-first authors—Haden, Kristen, Jim, and AJ—on a fantastic paper!
september 2020
Fred presented our recent PNAS paper on the use of cryogenic electron microscopy for detecting nanoscopic lipid domains in Erdinc Sezgin’s Online Journal Club series. Check out the talk here!
Fred and Co-investigator Neal Waxham (University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston) were awarded an R01 by the National Institutes of Health for investigating coupling of lateral and transverse organization in complex biomembranes. A huge thank you to our collaborators Ilya Levental and Kandice Levental (University of Virginia) who are also involved in this exciting project!
august 2020
Ever wondered what a lipid raft actually looks like? Well wonder no more! Our paper showing the first direct images of nanodomains (captured with cryogenic electron microscopy) is now online at Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. Congratulations to Neal Waxham, Ilya Levental, and the team of researchers who have contributed to this exciting project! Also check out this paper from Caitlin Cornell and Sarah Keller, who simultaneously and independently made a similar discovery using cryo-electron tomography.
JuLY 2020
Who knew it was so difficult to compute small-angle scattering curves from molecular simulations? These guys! Congratulations to Mitch Dorrell and Alex Sodt for finding not one but two elegant solutions to a challenging problem. Our new paper “Laterally resolved small-angle scattering intensity from lipid bilayer simulations: an exact and a limited-range treatment,” published in Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, dramatically improves comparison of simulated bilayers to experimental data for the case of heterogeneous lipid mixtures, thus paving the way for a deeper understanding of membrane rafts.
June 2020
Jim Baker has been awarded two highly competitive scholarships from Tau Beta Pi and the Tennessee Engineering Foundation. Great job Jim!
Our new paper on the molecular structure of sphingomyelin lipids was published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B! Congratulations to Milka Doktorova (University of Texas Health Science Center), Norbert Kučerka (Frank Laboratory of Neutron Physics), and our collaborators at University of South Florida, University of Windsor, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, National Institutes of Health, and ORNL.
May 2020
Abigail Eastham has joined the lab as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome Abbey!
march 2020
Fred’s New and Notable microreview “With lipid rafts, context is everything” was selected for a Biophysical Journal special collection “Spotlight on Early Career Investigators 2019.”
february 2020
Ryan Mclendon has joined the lab as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome Ryan!
Our new paper on the structure of polyunsaturated lipid bilayers has been accepted for publication in Chemistry and Physics of Lipids! Congratulations to Drew Marquardt and the collaborative team of researchers from University of Tennessee, University of Windsor, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Haden presented a poster on his recent paper at the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in San Diego.
Fred gave a presentation on asymmetric membranes in the Subgroup Saturday symposium for Membrane Structure and Function, at the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting in San Diego.
Check out our review on lipid rafts that was just published in Trends in Cell Biology!
January 2020
Mitch DiPasquale’s article on the influence of tocopherols on lipid domain size is accepted for publication in BBA Biomembranes. Congratulations to Mitch and our collaborative team led by Prof. Drew Marquardt (University of Windsor)!
december 2019
The Heberle Lab welcomes our first two graduate students, Kristen Kennison and Kevin Mendes!
Brett Rickeard’s paper on the mechanical properties of asymmetric vesicles is accepted for publication in Nanoscale! This paper is the first to use neutron spin echo to show the influence of lipid asymmetry on the bending rigidity of a lipid bilayer. Congratulations to Brett and our collaborative team led by Prof. Drew Marquardt (University of Windsor).
November 2019
Fred gave a keynote presentation on membrane phase behavior at Okinawa Colloids 2019 in Nago, Japan. Thanks to Prof. Takanori Takiue for the invitation to participate in this wonderful conference!
Fred gave a lecture on experimental tools for probing membrane lipid organization at the 5th International Kyushu Colloids Colloquium, held at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology in Okinawa, Japan.
October 2019
Fred gave a talk to undergraduate chemistry students at Lincoln Memorial University about how the lab uses principles of physical chemistry to unlock the mysteries of cell membranes. Thanks to Prof. Ashleigh Thomas and the LMU Chemistry Department for a great visit!
Fred gave a presentation on direct imaging of nanoscopic domains using cryogenic electron microscopy at the ORNL Workshop on Lateral Membrane Heterogeneity.
Fred gave a presentation to the ORNL Neutron Advisory Board on the use of neutron scattering to elucidate membrane structure.
Aaron Frederick has joined the lab as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome Aaron!
September 2019
Haden’s paper on extruded vesicles is accepted for publication in Biophysical Journal! This important paper demonstrates the difficulty of preparing purely unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) via extrusion for membranes composed of neutral lipids like phosphatidylcholine, and reports three methods for increasing the yield of LUVs. Congratulations to Haden and our collaborative team at NIST and University of Texas Health Science Center.
We have a new undergraduate researcher, Jim Baker, in the lab!
August 2019
Mike Nguyen’s study showing the effects of different peptides on lipid flip-flop is accepted for publication in Langmuir! Congratulations to Mike and our collaborative team led by Prof. Drew Marquardt (University of Windsor).
July 2019
Fred has accepted a position as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee. We are excited to be back in Knoxville!
June 2019
Dr. Thais Enoki joins the lab as a Postdoctoral Researcher. Welcome Thais!
March 2019
Haden Scott’s paper showing that PS asymmetry can promote the insertion of a transmembrane helix is accepted for publication in Biophysical Journal! Congratulations to Haden and our collaborative team led by Prof. Francisco Barrera (University of Tennessee).
February 2019
Milka Doktorova’s paper showing how a transmembrane protein can alter lipid flip-flop rates is accepted for publication in Biophysical Journal! Congratulations to Milka and our collaborative team led by Prof. Olaf Andersen (Weill Cornell Medical College).
january 2019
Dr. Haden Scott joins the lab as a Postdoctoral Researcher. Welcome Haden!
September 2018
Our method for preparing asymmetric lipid vesicles is published in Nature Protocols. Congratulations Milka, Drew and team!
July 2018
april 2018
Thais Enoki’s paper describing the use of FRET in conjunction with Monte Carlo simulations to measure domain size is published in Biophysical Journal. Congratulations to Thais and our collaborative team led by Prof. Gerald Feigenson (Cornell University).