Structural and functional asymmetry of plasma membranes Faraday Discussion

Born in San Sebastián (Spain) in 1951. MD (University of Navarra) in 1975. Postdoc under D. Chapman, Royal Free Hospital, University of London, 1976-78. Lecturer, then Professor of Biochemistry at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) Bilbao, Spain (1978 onwards, Emeritus Professor since 2021). Founder and Head of the “Unidad de Biofísica”, a joint centre of CSIC and the University of the Basque Country (2002-2015). President of the Spanish Biophysical Society SBE (1992-1998), Chair of FEBS Publications Committee (2006-2011), Chair of the International Relations Committee of the US Biophysical Society (2011-2016). President of the Spanish Biochemical Society SEBBM (2016-2020).
His research has dealt with several aspects of the structure and dynamics of biological membranes, using a variety of biophysical approaches (calorimetry, IR and fluorescence spectroscopy, advanced fluorescence microscopy, atomic force microscopy) together with molecular biology and computational tools. The main lipids studied by F.M. Goñi are the diacylglycerols and, more recently, the ceramides and other related sphingolipids. Diacylglycerols were found to destabilize the membrane core structure, the lipid bilayer, thus facilitating membrane fusion and modulating the activities of membrane-bound enzymes. A number of unexpected properties were described for ceramides, such as permeabilizing cell membranes, separating laterally in the plane of the membrane into ceramide-rich domains, or even inducing transbilayer (“flip-flop”) motion of other lipids.
Teacher of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the undergraduate level for over 40 years. Promoter, while Head of Department, of the new degree in Biochemistry at the UPV/EHU (1993). Promoter and Head of the Steering Committee of the new Master in Biomedicine and Molecular Biology (2005). Supervisor of 26 Ph.D. theses and 24 Master’s theses.
Over 350 papers, over 18,000 citations (WoS).
2021, Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; 2019, David Parkin Visiting Professor, University of Bath, UK; 2016-2020, Member of the Editorial Board, Annual Review of Biophysics; 2017, Real Academia Nacional de Medicina, Spain; 2017,  Premio Dr. Luis Federico Leloir, Argentina; 2016, D. Sc. (hon.) University of Bordeaux; 2015, Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia, Spain; 2014, Commander (Encomienda con Placa) Order of  Alfonso X el Sabio, Spain; 2013, Avanti-European Biophysical Societies Association (EBSA) Lipid Award.

Markus Deserno is a professor in the Department of Physics at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). He works in the field of theoretical and computational biophysics, with a focus on lipid membranes and proteins, using a diverse spectrum of techniques that range from coarse-grained Molecular Dynamics simulations up to differential geometry and statistical field theory. Dr. Deserno received his Ph.D. from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany. After graduation, he held a postdoctoral research position at UCLA, followed by a group leader position back at the MPI, before joining CMU in 2007. Between 2014 and 2020 he served on the Editorial Board of the Biophysical Journal, and he is an elected Fellow of the American Physical Society.

Erwin London received his B.A. degree from Queens College of the City University of New York and a Ph.D. degree from Cornell University.   Postdoctoral training was at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with H. Gobind Khorana.  He is presently Distinguished Professor at Stony Brook University.  Dr. London’s laboratory has studied membrane structure and organization both for membrane lipids and membrane proteins.  The lab is most well-known for pioneering work on the principles of organization of membranes into co-existing ordered and disordered lipid domains.  The lab has also developed methods to manipulate the lipid composition and asymmetry of both artificial and natural membranes.   He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a recipient of the Schroepfer Medal for advances in the steroid or sterol field from the American Oil Chemists Society. He has served on the Biochemistry and Biophysics of Membranes Study Section of the National Institutes of Health and has served on the editorial board or editorial advisory board of the journals Biochemistry, the Journal of Membrane Biology, and Protein Science. 

Sheena Radford completed her BSc in Biochemistry at the University of Birmingham and her PhD from the University of Cambridge. After postdoctoral and fellowship positions at the University of Oxford she established her independent group at the University of Leeds as a lecturer, becoming a Professor in 2000. She currently holds a Royal Society Research Professorship and is Astbury Professor of Biophysics. Her research focuses on the mechanisms of protein folding and misfolding in amyloid diseases, and how bacteria fold their proteins into their outer membranes to build the cell wall. She has published over 320 articles on these topics and has received several awards, including Fellowships of the Royal Society and the Academy of Medical Sciences, and Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to molecular biology.