Biophysical Society Conference | Tahoe 2022

Molecular Biophysics of Membranes

Poster Abstracts

31-POS Board 8 ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD EFFECTS ON MEMBRANE PROTEIN OSCILLATIONS AND AGGREGATION BY NON-EQUILIBRIUM ENTROPY CALCULATIONS Isabella Makelaar 1 ; Leslie Cook 1 ; Preet Sharma 1 ; 1 Midwestern State University, Chemistry and Physics, Wichita Falls, TX, USA The dynamics of membrane proteins involve oscillations, interactions with the environment, conformational changes, and aggregation to name a few important ones. The behavior of membrane proteins is affected by external factors or the protein-protein/protein-membrane interactions which may affect the dynamics at a more fundamental level. There are studies that suggest protein oscillations attribute to the aggregation mechanism or vice versa. This could have an affect on the properties of the individual amino acids in the peptide, the protein as a whole, or the membrane attached to the protein that influence protein misfolding. In this study we begin by applying an external independent electric field, an independent magnetic field, and then an electromagnetic field to study the oscillations that occur in membrane proteins. We know that the fields mentioned can make changes to oscillations, so we aim to apply them to the aggregation process as a possible way to disrupt toxic protein accumulation associated with neurodegenerative diseases. We explain this connection with non-equilibrium calculations of the entropy of membrane protein aggregation by its self and compare it with the application of an independent electric field, an independent magnetic field, and an electromagnetic field. Since oscillations are linked to aggregation, the application of one or more of these fields could affect the aggregation process by slowing it down, delaying the response to disease formation, or inhibit membrane protein aggregation altogether.

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