The morphology of lipid membranes

Abstract

Current research into the morphology of lipid membranes focuses on three areas: first, the transformations and fluctuations of the shape of freely suspended vesicles; second, the morphology of membranes that experience mutual interactions or external forces arising, for example, from a macroscopic surface or from optical tweezers; and third, the behavior of heterogeneous membranes with respect to bilayer asymmetry; intramembrane domains and anchored polymers. Our understanding of the morphology of lipid membranes has progressed substantially through the development of experimental techniques and theories.