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Scholarly Interest Report
         
Huey W. Huang
Professor
 
e-mail:hwhuang@rice.edu
 
  • B.S. (1963) National Taiwan University
  • Ph.D. (1967) Cornell University
 
Primary Department
   Department of Physics and Astronomy
Picture
 
Department Affiliations
 
  • Rice Quantum Institute
  •  
    Sabbatical Fall 2015
     

    I was on sabbatical for the fall semester 2015.  I spent 3 months in the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, Taiwan performing synchrotron experiments which produced a paper that has been submitted for publication.  I also played the role of a teacher to young researchers in the center, teaching them the techniques of X-ray experiments.  I also drafted a review article, since I was invited by the Editors' Board of Quarterly Reviews of Biophysics to do so.

     
    Websites
     hwhuang.rice.edu
     Huey Huang--home page
     Huey Huang
     Huey Huang's website
     
    Research Areas
     Statistical Physics, X-ray, Neutron, and Optical Spectroscopies on Membrane Physics
     
    Research Statement
     Huey Huang studies membrane biophysics. His group focuses on the functional roles of the lipid matrix in cell membranes, including three areas (1) membrane active peptides that form pores in membranes, (2) membrane fusion and, (3) protein transport through lipid bilayers. Using oriented circular dichroism and x-ray/neutron diffraction, his group has pioneered the investigation of conformation/orientation changes of peptides and in-plane structures in membranes. For further information, see Professor Huang's home page.
     
    Membrane Biophysics
     Dr. Huang's research interest is on membrane biophysics, particularly the structural studies of protein-membrane interactions. His laboratory has developed unique methods for resolving membrane structures, such as fusion intermediate state and membrane pores, by oriented circular dichroism, x-ray and neutron diffraction. The structural studies are correlated to the phenomena exhibited by vesicle experiments using micromanipulators. As a result, the lab has provided the highest-resolution descriptions of molecular events in membranes. This basic research has immediate applications to antimicrobial therapeutics, as well as gene and drug delivery.
     
    Membrane Biophysics
      Lipid molecules of cell membranes play important roles in all sorts of cellular functions, yet their molecular mechanisms are largely unknown, besides the obvious role of forming a hydrophobic barrier surrounding aqueous contents. The fact that each cell maintains its organism-specific lipid composition and that each type of lipid has its own distinct physical property strongly suggest correlations between the physical properties of lipids and lipid related functions. The challenge to membrane biophysicists is to show these correlations in the fashion of the standard paradigm, i.e., structure-function relationships.
    Take the example of antimicrobial peptides (AMP). Despite the common notion of non-specific peptide-lipid interactions, AMP kill bacterial in an all-or-none fashion with a species-specific MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration). Correspondingly they cause leakage from lipid vesicles with a lipid-specific threshold concentration. Working on these relative simple peptides, we have learned many basic principles of peptide-lipid interactions, such as hydrophobic matching, membrane-mediated protein interactions, membrane thinning effect by peptide binding, and tension-induced pore formation in bilayers. We have constructed two transmembrane pore models, i.e., the barrel-stave model and the toroidal model, that can be correlated with the thermodynamic parameters that describe the peptide-concentration dependence of pore formation.
    In the process of resolving the molecular mechanisms of AMP, we have developed the method of oriented circular dichroism for detecting peptide orientation changes and diffraction methods for detecting pore formation. Furthermore, pores in multilamellae can be induced to fall into a lattice thereby produce diffraction patterns for high-resolution structural analysis. These methods are now being extended to study the problem of membrane fusion and fusion peptides.
    Great varieties of membrane-active peptides and lipids provide a fertile ground for diverse research problems. Other applications include drug development of antimicrobial peptide, drug and gene delivery, crystallization of membrane proteins and uses of membranes and peptides in nanotechnologies.
     
    Current research
     The mechanism of antimicrobial peptides was resolved by a combination of macroscopic and microscopic techniques: X-ray and neutron diffraction, oriented circular dichroism, and single GUV (giant unilamellar vesicle) experiment. The new concept is that the elastic energy of lipid bilayer is a key to the mechanism. We now widen the research to include membrane-active proteins and drugs. We continue to explore novel X-ray/neutron techniques to resolve lipidic structures in membranes, such as membrane fusion intermediates, pores, and inhomogeneous lipid distribution, which are essential information for understanding membrane processes, such as fusion, apoptosis and drug effects.
     
    Current research
     Lipid molecules of cell membranes play important roles in all sorts of cellular functions, yet their molecular mechanisms are largely unknown, besides the obvious role of forming a hydrophobic barrier surrounding aqueous contents. The fact that each cell maintains its organism-specific lipid compositions and that each type of lipid has its own distinct physical property strongly suggest correlations between the physical properties of lipids and lipid related functions. The challenge to membrane biophysicists is to show these correlations in the fashion of the standard paradigm, i.e., structure-function relationships.
    We found membran-active proteins and peptides an excellent system for biophysical studies. Most of these proteins are water-soluble, yet they spontaneously bind to the lipid matrix of cell membranes and exert their functions. We started with the simplest antimicrobial peptides, including gramicidin, alamethicin, melittin, magainin and protegrin, in order to understand the basic principles of molecular interactions with membranes. The diversity of these peptides exposed different aspects of such interactions, and led us to develop special techniques for investigating the induced structural changes in membrane as well as in the bound peptides. These knowledge and techniques have been applied to the studies of amphipathic drugs, pore-forming proteins, including apoptosis-regulating Bax, and membrane fusion.
     

    Soft-Matter Physics and Membrane Biology

     

    Soft-Matter Physics  A lipid bilayer is a two-molecule-thick, flexible, two-dimensional fluid with many internal degrees of freedom.  Peptide interactions can induce local structural changes in the bilayer.  Elucidation of such structural changes and the associated energetics is the key for understanding the biological consequences of membrane-active peptides.


    Highlights of our research include developing the methods of oriented circular dichroism, X-ray and neutron in-plane scattering, anomalous diffraction for membrane structures and method of giant lipid vesicles with peptides.  Highlights of our discoveries include the toroidal pores, membrane-thinning effect, lipid extracting effect, peptide orientation change in membranes, structure of the membrane fusion intermediate state stalk, structure of a pre-stalk intermediate state, crystal structures of barrel-stave pores and toroidal pores. 


    Membrane Biology  The lipid bilayer of a cell membrane is the target of membrane-active peptides including antibiotics and beta-amyloid proteins.  Peptide-membrane interactions are the mechanisms of several new structural classes of antibiotics and the key for understanding the amyloid diseases, including Alzheimer’s and type II diabetes.

     
    Teaching Areas
     all undergraduate courses+basic graduate courses+diffraction+biophysics
     
    Selected Publications
     Abstracts
     

    Huey W. Huang "Membrane-active Peptides and Drugs: Kinetic and Equilibrium Experiments."  (Feb 2-6, 2008)

     
     

    Ming-Tao Lee, Wei-Chin Hung, Fang-Yu Chen, Huey W. Huang "Mechanism and Kinetics of Pore Formation in Membranes by Small Amphiphilic Peptides."  (Feb 2-6, 2008)

     
     

    Shuo Qian, Wangchen Wang, Lin Yang and Huey W. Huang "Electron Density Image of Alamethicin Pore: Constructed by X-Ray Anomalous Diffraction."  (Feb 2-6, 2008)

     
     W. C. Hung, F. Y. Chen, C. C. Lee, Y. Sun, M. T. Lee and H. W. Huang. “Membrane thinning effect of curcumin,” Biophys. J. 94: 4331-4338 (2008)
     
     

    Wangchen Wang, Lin Yang and Huey W. Huang "Refinement of the Stalk Structure, the Intermediate State of Membrane Fusion, by X-Ray Anomalous Diffraction."  (Feb 2-6, 2008)

     
     

    Wei-Chin Hung, Fang-Yu Chen, Ming-Tao Lee, Chang-Chun Lee, Huey W. Huang "Membrane Thinning Effect of Curcumin."  (Feb 2-6, 2008)

     
     

    Xin Liu, Wangchen Wang, Huey W. Huang, "The Transformation Between Secondary Structures of Peptide in Different Lipid Bilayer Conditions."  (Feb 2-6, 2008)

     
     

    Yen Sun, Fang-Yu Chen, Ming-Tao Lee, Wei-Chin Hung, Huey W. Huang "Interaction of Curcumin with Lipid Bilayers: GUV and ITC experiments."  (Feb 2-6, 2008)

     
     Refereed articles
     

    J. E. Faust, T. Desai, A. Verma, I. Ulengin, T.-L. Sun, T. J. Moss, M. A. Betancourt, Huey W. Huang, T. Lee, and J, A. McNew "The Atlastin C-terminal Tail is an Amphipathic Helix that Perturbs Bilayer Structure during Endoplasmic Reticulum Homotypic Fusion." J. Biol. Chem, 290 (2015) : 4772-4783 .

     
     

    W.-C. Hung, M.-t. Lee, H. Chung, Y.-T. Sun, H. Chen, N. E. Charron, H. W. Huang, "Comparative Study of the Condensing Effects of Ergosterol and Cholesterol." J. Am. Chem. Soc.Submitted

     
     

    Y. Sun, Wei-Chin Hung, Ming-Tao Lee and H. W, Huang "Membrane-mediated amyloid formation of PrP 106-126: A kinetic study." Biochem. Biophys. Acta , 1848 (2015) : 2422-2429 .

     
     

    J. E. Faust, T. Desai, A. Verma, I. Ulengin, T.-L. Sun, T. J. Moss, M. A. Betancourt, Huey W. Huang, T. Lee, and J, A. McNew "The Atlastin C-terminal Tail is an Amphipathic Helix that Perturbs Bilayer Structure during Endoplasmic Reticulum Homotypic Fusion." J. Biol. Chem. (2015) In Press

     
     

    Y. Sun and H. W. Huang "Kinetics of Membrane Mediated Amyloid Formation." J. Am. Chem. Soc. (2015) Submitted

     
     

    Y. Sun, T.-L. Sun, and H. W. Huang "Physical State of Escherichia coli Spheroplast Membranes." Biophys. J., 107 (2014) : 2082-2090 .

     
     

    Yen-Fei Chen, Tzu-Lin Sun, Yen Sun and Huey W. Huang "Interaction of Daptomycin with Lipid Bilayers: A Lipid Extracting Effect." Biochemistry, 53 (2014) : 5384-5392 .

     
     

    Yen-Fei Chen, Tzu-Lin Sun, Yen Sun and Huey W. Huang "Interaction of Daptomycin with Lipid Bilayers: A Lipid Extracting Effect." Biochemistry, 53 (2014) : 5384-5392 .

     
     

    Yen-Fei Chen, Tzu-Lin Sun, Yen Sun and Huey W. Huang "Interaction of Daptomycin with Lipid Bilayers: A Lipid Extracting Effect." Biochemistry, 53 (2014) : 5384-5392 .

     
     

    C.-C. Lee, Y. Sun and H.W. Huang, “How Type II Diabetes Related Islet Amyloid Polypeptide Damages Lipid Bilayers,” Biophys. J. 102: 1059-1068 (2012)

     
     

    M.-T. Lee, T.L. Sun, W. C. Hung and H. W. Huang, “Process of inducing pores in membranes by melittin,” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 110: 14243-14248 (2103)

     
     

    S. Qian and H. W. Huang, “A Novel Phase of Compressed Bilayers That Models the Pre-
    Stalk Transition State of Membrane Fusion,” Biophys. J. 102: 48-55 (2012)

     
     

    T-L Sun, C.-C. Lee, Y. Sun and H. W. Huang "Membrane permeability of hydrocarbon-cross-linked peptides." Biophys. J., 104 (2013) : 1923-1932 .In Press

     
     

    T-L Sun, Y. Sun, C.-C. Lee and H. W. Huang, “Membrane permeability of hydrocarbon-cross-linked peptides.” Biophys. J. 104, 1923-1932 (2013)

     
     

    Y.-F. Chen, T.-L. Sun, Y. Sun and H. W. Huang, “Lipid Extracting Effect of Daptomycin: A Possible New Mechanism for Membrane-acting Antibiotics,” J. Am. Chem. Soc. In revision.

     
     

    C.-C. Lee, Y. Sun and H.W. Huang, “How Type II Diabetes Related Islet Amyloid Polypeptide Damages Lipid Bilayers,” Biophys. J. accepted for publication.

     
     

    C.-C. Lee, Y. Sun, S. Qian and H. W. Huang, “Transmembrane pores formed by human antimicrobial peptide LL-37.” Biophys. J. 100: 1688-1696 (2011)

     
     

    S. Qian and H. W. Huang, “A Novel Phase of Compressed Bilayers That Models the Pre-Stalk Transition State of Membrane Fusion,” Biophys. J. 102: 48-55 (2012)

     
     

    Y. Sun, C.-C. Lee, T.-H. Chen, and H. W. Huang, “Kinetic Process of b-Amyloid Formation via Membrane Binding”, Biophys. J. 99: 544-552 (2010)

     
     

    Y. Sun, C.-C. Lee, and H. W. Huang, “Adhesion and merging of lipid bilayers: A method for measuring the free energy of adhesion and hemifusion.” Biophys. J. 100: 987-995 (2011)

     
     

    C.-C. Lee, Y. Sun and H. W. Huang, “Membrane-mediated Peptide Conformation Change from a-Monomers to b-Aggregates”, Biophys. J. 98: 2236-2245 (2010)

     
     

     
     

     

     
     

    Huey W. Huang "Free Energies of Molecular Bound States in Lipid Bilayers: Lethal concentrations of Antimicrobial Peptides, Biophys. J. 96: 3263-3272 (2009)." 

     
     

    S. Qian, C.-C. Lee, Y. Sun, T.-H. Chen, L. Yang, and H. W. Huang, " “Membrane fusion intermediate” submitted (2009)." Submitted

     
     

    Y. Sun, C.-C. Lee, T.-H. Chen, and H. W. Huang " “Kinetic Process of β-Amyloid Formation via Membrane Binding”, Biophys. J. 99: 544-552 (2010) ." Submitted

     
     

    Y. Sun, W.-C. Hung, F-Y Chen, C.-C. Lee and H. W. Huang, " “Interaction of Tea Catechin (―)Epigallocatechin Gallate with Lipid Bilayers.” Biophys. J. 96: 1026-1035 (2009)." 

     
     C.-C. Lee, S. Qian, Y. Sun and H. W. Huang, “Hemifusion of giant lipid vesicles by a small transient osmotic depletion pressure” Biophys. J. (submitted)
     
     H. W. Huang, “Free Energies of Molecular Bound States in Lipid Bilayers: Lethal concentrations of Antimicrobial Peptides.” Biophys. J. (submitted)
     
     H. W. Huang and L. Yang, “X-ray methods for investigation of structures of lipid assemblies,” Encyclopedia of Applied Biophysics, John Wiley & Sons (Hoboken, NJ) (accepted for publication) (2008)
     
     M. T. Lee, W. C. Hung, F. Y. Chen and H. W. Huang, “Mechanism and kinetics of pore formation in membranes by water-soluble amphipathic peptides.” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105: 5087-5092 (2008)
     
     S. Qian, W. Wang, L. Yang and H. W. Huang, “Structure of the alamethicin pore reconstructed by x-ray diffraction analysis” Biophys. J. 94: 3512- 3522 (2008)
     
     S. Qian, W. Wang, L. Yang and H. W. Huang, “Structures of transmembrane pores induced by Bax derived peptides: Evidence for lipidic pores.” Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105: 17379-17383 (2008)
     
     Y. Sun, C. C. Lee, W.-C. Hung, F-Y Chen, M.-T. Lee and H. W. Huang, “The bound states of amphipathic drugs in lipid bilayers: study of curcumin.” Biophys. J. 95: 2318-2324 (2008)
     
     Y. Sun, W.-C. Hung, F-Y Chen, C.-C. Lee and H. W. Huang, “Interaction of Tea Catechin (―)Epigallocatechin Gallate with Lipid Bilayers.” Biophys. J. 96: February 2009
     
     W. C. Hung, F. Y. Chen, C. C. Lee, Y. Sun, M. T. Lee and H. W. Huang. Membrane thinning effect of curcumin, Biophys. J. (2008)
     
     W. Wang, L. Yang and H. W. Huang, Evidence of cholesterol accumulated in high curvature regions. Biophys. J. 92:2819-2830 (2007)
     
     W.-C. Hung, M.-T. Lee, F.-Y. Chen and H. W. Huang, The condensing effect of cholesterol in lipid bilayers, Biophys. J. 92: 3960-3967 (2007)
     
     D. Pan, W. Wangchen, W. Liu, L. Yang, and H. W. Huang, “Chain packing in the inverted hexagonal phase of phospholipids: a study by X-ray anomalous diffraction on bromine-labeled chains” J. Am. Chem. Soc. 128: 3800-3807 (2006)
     
     H. W. Huang, "Diffraction from bilayers". in Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. 2006, on-line publication http://www.els.net.
     
     H. W. Huang, “Molecular mechanism of antimicrobial peptides: the origin of cooperativity” Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1758, 1292-1302 (2006)
     
     W. Wang, D. Pan, Y. Song, W. Liu, L. Yang and H. W. Huang, “Method of X-ray anomalous diffraction for lipid structures” Biophys. J. 91:736-743 (2006)
     
     

    L. Ding, T. M. Weiss, G. Fragneto, W. Liu, L. Yang, and H. W. Huang "Distorted hexagonal phase studied by neutron diffraction: lipid components demixed in a bent monolayer." Langmuir: 203-210.

     
     

    M. T. Lee, W. C. Hung, F. Y. Chen and H. W. Huang "Many-body effect of antimicrobial peptides: On the correlation between lipid’s spontaneous curvature and pore formation." Biophys. J: 4006-4016.

     
     Online books
     
    H. W. Huang, “Diffraction Methods for Studying Transmembrane Pore Formation and Membrane Fusion” in Encyclopedia of Biophysics http://oesys.springer.com/biophysics

      (Springer, 2012)

     
     Book chapters
     

    H. W. Huang and L. Yang, "“X-ray methods for investigation of structures of lipid assemblies,” in Handbook of Molecular Biophysics, ed. H. G. Bohr, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. (Weinheim, Germany) Chapter 14, 457-502 (2009)." 

     
    Presentations
     Conference abstracts
     

    "

    Using Spheroplasts to Study Peptide Interactions with Cell Membranes

    ." (Feb 17, 2014)

     
     

    "

    Lipid Extracting Effect of Daptomycin Correlated to Its Action on Bacterial Cell Membranes

    ." (Feb 16, 2014)

     
     

    "How SpoVM interacts with lipid bilayers and bacterial cell membranes." (Feb 16, 2014)

     
     Invited Talks
     

    "Membrane Biophysics & Soft Matter Physics." National Taiwan University, Physics Department. (March 3, 2015)

     
     

    "The mode of action of AMPs on E. coli spheroplasts." National Tsing Hua University. (December 3, 2015)

     
     

    Application of Synchrotron Radiation to membrane biology, NSSRC, May 15, 2013

     
     

    Future of Synchrotron Radiation for Membrane Biology at the NSLS II Beamline Advisory Meeting, Brookhaven National Laboratory, August 19, 2013

     
     

    Small Angle Diffraction at Oak Ridge National Lab, April 17, 2013

     
     

    "

    Membrane-active Peptides: pore formation and other activities--Biophysical Society Meeting
    ." (Feb 27, 2012)

     
     

    "Diffuse Scattering from Soft Matter Crystallines--University of Houston." (October 20, 2012)

     
     

    "Investigating Structures in Biomembranes by X-ray and Neutron Scattering-NIST, Gaithersburg." (June 13, 2012)

     
     

    "Protein-induced structural changes in lipid bilayers--Washington University." (February 17, 2012)

     
     

    "Protein-induced structural changes in lipid bilayers-University of Toronto." (March 30, 2012)

     
     

    "X-ray for membrane research--Brookhaven National Lab." (Oct 22, 2012)

     
     

    "Bilayer adhesion and hemifusion: method of measurement." (March 7, 2011)

     
     

    Protein-induced structural changes in lipid bilayers. A seminar on Nov. 8, 2011 at National Taiwan University.

     
     

    Solving biomembrane problems by diffraction methods  A lecture at the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu Taiwan

     
     

    "The Merging Pathway for Membrane Fusion." (April 25, 2011)

     
     

    What are membrane problems?  a seminar on August 5, 2011 at MIT, Cambridge MA

     
     

    "Prestalk transitional state in membrane fusion." (August 8, 2011)

     
     

    "Resolving the Structures of Membrane Pores Formed by Antimicrobial Peptides." (July 25, 2010)

     
     

    "Thermodynamics of Membrane-Mediated b-Amyloid Formation:

    A Free Energy Description based on X-ray, CD, and GUV Experiments." (March 21, 2010)

     
     

    " Small Angle Diffraction." (October 15, 2009)

     
     

    "Anomalous small angle X-ray scattering." (October 16, 2009)

     
     

    "Pore-forming Peptides." (March 6, 2009)

     
     

    "Pore-forming antimicrobial peptides: A system almost understood." (March 23, 2009)

     
     

    "Structural Transformation of Lipid Bilayers under Osmotic Pressure Sheds Light on the Initial Phase of Membrane Fusion." (July 20, 2009)

     
     

    "Antimicrobial Peptides. How do they make stable pores in membranes?." University of Texas Medical School, Houston. (February 18, 2008)

     
     

    "Membrane-active Peptides and Drugs: Kinetic and Equilibrium Experiments." Biophysical Society Meeting, Long Beach, CA. (February 4, 2008)

     
     

    "Pore-forming Peptides." Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany. (July 7, 2008)

     
     

    "Rhombohedral Phase of Phospholipids." 10th International Conference on Surface X-ray and Neutron Scattering, Paris, France. (July 2-5, 2008)

     
     

    "Structures in soft matter (membranes): gold mine in low-resolution diffraction." National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, Taiwan. (November 13, 2008)

     
     

    "Action of membrane-active peptides: interpretation of kinetic experiments." University of Washington, Seattle, WA. (October 17, 2007)

     
     

    "Crystallization of Lipidic Structures." American Crystallographic Association Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, Utah. (July 22, 2007)

     
     

    "Investigating Membrane Processes by Structural Studies." University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, Chapel Hill, NC. (January 30, 2007)

     
     

    "Protein-induced pores in membranes detected and studied by neutron scattering." American Vacuum Society 54th International Symposium, Seattle, WA. (October 16, 1007)

     
     

    "Soft-Matter Physics Research on Biological Membranes." National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, Taiwan. (May 28, 2007)

     
     

    "Why do amphipathic peptides induce pores in membranes?." Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD. (March 3, 2007)

     
     

    "3 Issues in Membrane Biophysics: hydrophobic matching, pore formation and lipid distribution upon bending.." Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. (June 1, 2006)

     
     

    "How do peptides make holes in the membranes?." Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. (Mar 30, 2006)

     
     

    "Material Research on Lipid Bilayers: a way to study protein-lipid interactions." Material Sciences Seminar at Argonne National Lab, Argonne, IL. (Dec 7, 2006)

     
     

    "Mechanism of Pore Formation by Antimicrobial Peptides --A Micellar Phenomenon in Membranes ." Condensed-Matter Physics & Materials Science Seminar at Brookhaven National Lab, BNL, Upton, NY. (Mar 16, 2006)

     
     

    "Mechanism of Pore Formation by Antimicrobial Peptides --A Micellar Phenomenon in Membranes ." Physical Chemistry Symposium on “Physical chemical foundations of biological membrane phenomena, ACS Meeting, San Francisco, CA. (September 14, 2006)

     
     

    "Method of X-ray Anomalous Diffraction for Lipid Structures." The Ninth International Conference on Surface X-ray and Neutron Scattering, Taipei, Taiwan. (July 16-20, 2006)

     
     

    "Molecular Mechanism of Antimicrobial Peptides." symposium on “Interactions of Peptides and Proteins with Membrane Surfaces” at the Spring 2006 National American Chemical Society Meeting, Atlanta, Georgia.. (Mar 28, 2006)

     
     

    "Molecular mechanism of Making Pores in Membranes by Antimicrobial Peptides." Seminar at the Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. (July 17, 2006)

     
     

    "Actions of Membrane-active Peptides: Aggregation, Pore or Fusion." the Max Planck Institute, Potsdam, Germany. (September 7, 2005)

     
     

    "Cooperative Phenomena of Pore Formation in Membranes by Antimicrobial Peptides." the James Franck Institute Seminar, the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL. (November 8, 2005)

     
     

    "Fusion intermediate state: formation and structure of stalk." the American Chemical Society Symposium “Surface Chemistry, Self-Assembly, and Cell Biology”, Washington DC. (Aug 29, 2005)

     
     

    "Hydrophobic Matching in Lipid Bilayers and Consequences." Biophysical Society Meeting, Long Beach, CA. (Feb.12, 2005)

     
     

    "Membrane Active Peptides Induce Structural Changes in Lipid Bilayers." the Physical Chemistry Seminar, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconin. (September 27, 2005)

     
     

    "Membrane Diffraction." the Advances in X-ray Scattering Studies on Non-Crystalline Biological Systems Workshop, Stanford, CA. (October 15, 2005)

     
     

    "Membrane fusion and membrane pores: Structural studies by diffraction." the American Chemical Society Symposium “The Frontiers in Neutron Scattering”, Washington DC. (Sept 1, 2005)

     
     

    "Molecular Mechanism of Antimicrobial Peptides: Barrel-stave pores, toroidal pores and lipid effects." the American Chemical Society Symposium “Membrane Active Synthetic Organic Compounds", Washington DC. (Aug 28, 2005)

     
     

    "Peptide-induced Structures in Lipid Bilayers: Pores and Stalks." Biological Membranes: Current Challenges/Benasque Center for Science, Benasque, Spain. (August 3, 2005)

     
     

    "Structures in Membranes Induced by Membrane-active Peptides." the Joint IUPAB/EBSA Biophysics Congress, Grenoble, France. (September 4-7, 2005)

     
     

    "Structures in Membranes Induced by Membrane-active Peptides." the American Crystallographic Association Meeting, Orlando, FL. (May 31, 2005)

     
     

    "Structures in Membranes Induced by Membrane-active Peptides Studied by Neutron and X-ray diffraction." Spallation Neutron Source, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN. (April 8, 2005)

     
     

    "Structures induced in membranes studied by grazing-angle diffraction." INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP: PROBING COMPLEX FLUID MEMBRANES AND FILMS WITH NEUTRON SPIN-ECHO, INDIANA UNIVERSITY MEMORIAL UNION, BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA. (AUGUST 14-17, 2005)

     
     Lectures
     

    "Biophysics of cell membranes--National Taiwan University." (November 23, 2012)

     
     

    "Thermodynamics and Kinetics of Peptide-Membrane Interactions: antimicrobial peptides, membrane-mediated beta-amyloid, and amphipathic drugs." (March 1, 2010)

     
     

    "Lipid components demixed in a bent monolayer according to the spontaneous curvature." Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, Long Beach, CA. (Feb 13, 2005)

     
     Posters
     

    "Attack on single E. coli spheroplasts by antimicrobial peptides." (February 11, 2015)

     
     

    "Structural transformation of amyloid peptides interacting with lipid membranes." (February 11, 2015)

     
     

    "The nature of daptomycin aggregates." (February 11, 2015)

     
     

    Kinetics of membrane permeabilization by human antimicrobial peptide LL-37.

    by Chih-Wei Chen, Yen Sun, Chang-Chun Lee and Huey W. Huang

     
     

    "Pore formation by human antimicrobial peptide LL37." (March 7, 2011)

     
     

    "Membrane-mediated Peptide Conformation Change from a-Monomers to b-Aggregates." (March 22, 2010)

     
     

    "Observation of b-Amyloid Formation via Membrane Binding." (March 22, 2010)

     
     

    "Evidence for Lipidic Pores." (March 3, 2009)

     
     

    "Free Energy of Molecular Bound States in Lipid Bilayers: Lethal concentrations of antimicrobial peptides." (March 1, 2009)

     
     

    "Discovery of a New Tetragonal Phase of Phospholipids between the Lamellar Phase and the Rhombohedral (Stalk) Phase." Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD. (March 4, 2007) With S. Qian, W. Wang, L. Yang

     
     

    "Refinement of the Stalk Structure by X-ray Multiwavelength Anomalous Diffraction Method." Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD. (March 5, 2007) With W. Wang, L. Yang

     
     

    "The condensing effect of cholesterol." Biophysica Society Annual Meeting, Baltimore, MD. (March 5, 2007) With W. C. Hung, M. T. Lee, F. Y Chen

     
     

    coauthor.  "Anomalous diffraction method for lipid structures: lamellar phase." Annual meeting of the Biophysical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. (Feb 18-22, 2006) With Y. Song, D. Pan, W. Wang, W. Liu, L. Yang, H. W. Huang

     
     

    coauthor.  "Chain configuration of the stalk structure: a study by x-ray anomalous diffraction with bromine label." Annual meeting of the Biophysical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. (Feb 18-22, 2006) With W. Wang, D. Pan, W. Liu, L. Yang, H. W. Huang

     
     

    coauthor.  "Chain packing in the inverted hexagonal phase: a study by x-ray anomalous diffraction with bromine label." Annual meeting of the Biophysical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. (Feb 18-22, 2006) With D. Pan, W. Wang, W. Liu, L. Yang, H. W. Huang

     
     

    coauthor.  "Correlation between lipid's spontaneous curvature and pore formatin by antimicrobial peptides." Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. (Feb 18-22, 2006) With M.-T. Lee, W.-C. Hung, F.-Y. Chen, H. W. Huang

     
     

    coauthor.  "Fusogenic lipid composition: the relation between PEG-mediated fusion and the lamellar-rhombohedral phase transition of lipid." Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. (feb 18-22, 2006) With S. Qian, D. Pan, W. Wang, Y. Song, H. W. Huang

     
     

    "Effects of alamethicin and meltittin on bilayer structures." Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, Long Beach, CA. (Feb. 14, 2005) With Y. Song, W. Wang, D. Pan W. Liu,

     
     

    "Effects of lipid curvature on barrel-stave pores and toroidal pores." Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, Long Beach, CA. (Feb 14, 2005) With D. Pan, W. Wang, Y. Song, W. Liu,

     
     

    "Peptides manipulates the membrane curvature: action of antimicrobial peptides and fusion peptides." Biophysical Society Annual Meeting, Long Beach, CA. (Feb 14, 2005) With W. Wang, L. Ding, W. Liu, L. Yang

     
     Seminar Speaker
     

    "Precursor to Membrane Fusion: the Beginning of Close Contact." (March 23, 2010)

     
     

    "Molecular mechanism of antimicrobial peptides." Biophysics Seminar, Rice University. (November 11, 2005)

     
    Editorial Positions
     Member of the Editorial Board, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. (2015 - 2016)

     Member of the Editorial Board, Biophysical Journal. (2014 - 2014)

     Member of the Editorial Board, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta Membranes. (2014 - 2015)

     Member of the Editorial Board, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta Membranes. (2013 - 2014)

     Member of the Editorial Board, BBA - Biomembranes . Elsevier . (2010 - 2010)

     Member of the Editorial Board, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta Biomembranes. Elsevier. (2011 - 2011)

     Member of the Editorial Board, Biophysical Journal. Cell Press. (2011 - 2011)

     Member of the Editorial Board, Biophysical Journal. Cell press. (2010 - 2010)

     Member of the Editorial Board, Biophysical Journal. (2013 - 2014)

    Supervised Theses & Dissertations
     Yen Sun, PhD The Method of Gaint Unilamellar Vescile for membrane studies. (2011) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Yen Sun, Ph.D. Method of giant vesicle experiments for the studies of membrane-active peptides and drugs. (2011) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Chang-Chun Lee, PhD Membrane-mediated amyloid formation. (2012) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Chi-Wei Chen, MS Kinetics of pore formation by membrane-active peptides. (2012) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Tzu-Lin Sun, M.S. Hydrocarbon-linked helical peptide. (2012) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Chang Chun Lee, Ph.D. Interactiion of amyloid-forming peptides with lipid bilayer membranes. (2012) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Yen-Fei Chen, M.S. Mode of action of membrane-acing biotics daptomycin. (2013) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Tzu-Lin Sun, PhD Transport of Drugs across membranes. (2015) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Shuo Qian, PhD Structure and Mechanism of Peptide-induced Membrane Pores. (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Yen Sun, Master Investigation of peptide-membrane interaction by giant unilamellar vesicles. (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Chang-Chun Lee, MS Membrane-mediated beta amyloid formation. (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

    Awards, Prizes, & Fellowships
     The Distinguished Alumnus Award, National Taiwan University, Physics Department of National Taiwan Univerisity (November 23, 2012)

     The Avanti Award in Lipids, Biophysics Society, Biophysics Society (February 27, 2012)