Biological membranes are not merely passive barriers that define cells and intracellular organelles, but highly functional interfaces that play essential roles in cellular processes such as molecular transport, signal transduction, and energy conversion. These membranes are composed of lipid bilayers and membrane proteins, whose sophisticated and cooperative interactions enable complex biological functions. From a biomimetic perspective, we have designed a variety of functional amphiphilic polymers capable of manipulating the structure and function of biological membranes by mimicking the amphiphilic architectures of membrane-active peptides and proteins found in nature. In this presentation, I will focus on two classes of membrane-active polymers: synthetic antimicrobial polymers that disrupt bacterial membranes,1,2 and lipid nanodisc-forming polymers that spontaneously fragment lipid bilayers.3,4

References:
(1) C. Ergene, K. Yasuhara, E. F. Palermo, Polym. Chem. 2018, 9, 2407–2427.
(2) M. Tsukamoto, E. Zappala, G. A. Caputo, J. Kikuchi, K. Najarian, K. Kuroda, K. Yasuhara, Langmuir 2021, 37, 9982–9995.
(3) K. Yasuhara, J. Arakida, T. Ravula, S. K. Ramadugu, B. Sahoo, J. Kikuchi, A. Ramamoorthy, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2017, 139, 18657–18663.
(4) J. Hao, M. Ishihara, G. Rapenne, K. Yasuhara, RSC Adv. 2024, 14, 6127–6134.