Since the creation of the Universitat Jaume I, the research group on molecular biophysics and membrane transport phenomena has played a very active role both in the development of new lines of research and in the incorporation of new researchers, first within the Department of Experimental Sciences (until 2006) and, since 2007, in the Department of Physics. After a first stage of research on synthetic membranes, the group has gradually shifted its interest towards biological membranes (mainly phospholipid bilayer model membranes) and, especially, towards membrane proteins that act as ionic channels. The postdoctoral stays of several members of the group at prestigious experimental (Lab. Physical and Structural Biology, NIH, Bethesda, MD, Univ. Maryland, MD, USA) and theoretical biophysics laboratories (Rush University, Chicago, IL, USA, Univ. Verona, Italy; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA) have facilitated this transition. Since then, more intensive interdisciplinary collaborations have been developed with various groups of biologists, chemists, biochemists and virologists in order to provide the necessary balance between experimental techniques and the theoretical approach. As a result of this interaction, the group has positioned itself as a reference in ionic transport through mesoscopic ion channels, such as bacterial pores, which are the main route of beta-lactam antibiotics and, particularly in recent years, in the electrophysiology of viral proteins with channel activity, commonly known as viroporins, which are of special interest as therapeutic targets.
Research lines
- Transport across ion channels in biological membranes
- Electrostatics of biological membranes and protein channels: continuum models and molecular simulations
- Fluctuations, noise, statistical physics, thermodynamics
- Membrane permeabilization induced by nanoparticles
- Dielectric characterization of polymeric materials. Impedance spectroscopy