IISER Pune · BRIC-NCCS Pune

How membranes hold their shape — and when they let go.

Biological membranes define the shape and boundaries of cells and organelles. Driven by the hydrophobic effect, lipids self-assemble into fluid bilayers without need of a template. This fluidity gives the membrane a selective permeability barrier — it blocks the free passage of ions and solutes while resisting mechanical stresses such as bending and vesiculation. These biophysical properties make lipid bilayers remarkably robust, which is likely why evolution settled on them as the enclosure for all living cells.

Yet for all their stability as barriers, membranes are constantly and deliberately challenged in the course of normal physiology. At the nanoscale, transient changes in permeability allow the controlled leak of ions and solutes — essential for setting membrane potential in excitable cells and organelles. At the microscale, the bilayer must bend and deform substantially during the budding and scission events that drive vesicular transport.

Specialized proteins manage both kinds of disruption. The Pucadyil Lab works to identify these molecular factors and to understand how they function and are regulated. We map these pathways through biochemical screens that pinpoint candidate proteins, in vitro reconstitution to probe their mechanism, and studies in yeast and mammalian cells to establish their physiological roles.