The crystal structure of the dimerization domain of rabies virus phosphoprotein was determined. The monomer consists of two alpha-helices that make a helical hairpin held together mainly by hydrophobic interactions. The monomer has a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic face, and in the dimer two monomers pack together through their hydrophobic surfaces. This structure is very different from the dimer...

Accumulation at the air-water interface of four bacterial strains with different hydrophobicities was studied. To exclude system influences, both a static batch system and a dynamic system involving rising bubbles were used. All bacteria accumulated at the air-water interface in both systems. Generally, attachment to the air-water interface increased with bacterial surface hydrophobicity. Accum...

We designed and synthesized several families of novel amphiphilic fluorescent phosphorus dendron-based micelles showing relevant antiproliferative activities for use in the field theranostic nanomedicine. Based on straightforward synthesis pathways, 12 dendrons bearing 10 protonated cyclic amino groups (generation one), or 20 two), 1 hydrophobic chain carrying fluorophore moiety were created. T...

Controlling the level of dispersion of silicate layers in polymer matrices through intermolecular interactions and exploiting these interactions to enhance thermomechanical behavior are key challenges in the field of polymer nanocomposites. In this investigation, unmodified Laponite platelets are dispersed in a segmented polyurethane containing a polar, hydrophilic soft segment and a hydrophobi...

The EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor)/ErbB/HER (human EGFR) family of kinases contains four homologous receptor tyrosine kinases that are important regulatory elements in key signalling pathways. To elucidate the atomistic mechanisms of dimerization-dependent activation in the ErbB family, we have performed molecular dynamics simulations of the intracellular kinase domains of three member...

The adsorption and assembly of B18 peptide on various solid surfaces were studied by reflectometry techniques and atomic force microscopy. B18 is the minimal membrane binding and fusogenic motif of the sea urchin protein bindin, which mediates the fertilization process. Silicon substrates were modified to obtain hydrophilic charged surfaces (oxide layer and polyelectrolyte multilayers) and hydr...

The controlled patterning of anisotropic gold nanoparticles is of crucial importance for many applications related to their optical properties. In this paper, we report that gold nanorods prepared by a seed-mediated synthesis protocol (without any further functionalization) can be selectively deposited on hydrophilic parts of hydrophobic-hydrophilic contrast patterned substrates. We have seen t...