Membranes offer infinite possible docking combinations onto which to assemble proteins dedicated to a specific signaling outcome. Little appreciated is the very act of 'docking' the underlying pattern of membrane to which the molecule docked will be altered. Membranes are a self-organized system with unique biological properties. To understand membrane localized docking interactions, a strong research program that has an emphasis in binding interactions, of how to measure experimentally and model binding, is critical. My work has a common theme of having predictive power in the how and why things bind and has an emphasis in interactions localized on or near the membrane. This body of work has evolved in the past few years from elucidating how signal transduction complexes may be formed at the membrane to applying these defined principles to systems of pharmacological and material science interest. My long-term goal is to define those interactions that both lead to pathological interactions at the membrane, and to use such understanding to formulate unique organized systems mimicking these interactions to both treat and diagnose disease states.
