Optical Micromirrors Reveal The Secrets Of Cell Membranes

Progress in understanding the lipid bilayer – an ingenious two-molecule thick oily barrier that protects all living cells, including our own – has been dramatic over the past 100 years. But there are still puzzles to be solved such as how these membrane proteins, which are oily themselves, navigate the oily lipid bilayer to go about their work. The first step for scientists is to figure out the thermodynamic rules that govern protein assembly in membranes.