Alladi Ramakrishnan Hall

Interaction of biomimetic antimicrobial polymers with model lipid bilayers

Upayan Baul

IMSc

Antimicrobial peptides, and their synthetic polymeric mimetics are known to selectively interact with microbial lipid bilayers and destabilize the same. With the advent of multi-drug resistant bacteria, the interactions of such polymers with lipid bilayers are being studied both experimentally and using molecular dynamics (MD)simulations, with a view to developing general purpose antibiotics that would have low susceptibility to resistance growth in microbes. In this talk, I shall discuss the interactions of two such antimicrobial polymers with model lipid bilayers, studied using extensive MD simulations. Interactions with lipid bilayers with varying lipid compositions would be discussed to demonstrate possible mode(s) of action, and the complexities involved in identifying them.