There is much current interest in the formation of cholesterol-rich domains in membranes. Many of these domains are formed as a consequence of the physical properties of the lipids incorporated into these domains. However, there is also evidence that in some cases proteins are involved in facilitating the formation of these cholesterol-rich domains. We are currently investigating several  aspects of  "raft" formation.

R.M. Epand, S. D. Rychnovsky, J. D. Belani and R. F. Epand. 2005. Role of chirality in peptide-induced formation of cholesterol-rich domains.

Biochem. J. (2005) Immediate Publication, doi:10.1042/BJ20050649.

R.F. Epand, B.G. Sayer and R.M. Epand. 2005. Relationship between the Trp-rich region of the gp41 HIV protein and cholesterol domains in membranes. Biochemistry, 44(14):5525-5531.

R.F. Epand, B.G. Sayer and R.M. Epand. 2005. Induction of raft-like domains by a myristoylated Nap-22 peptide and its Tyr mutant. FEBS J., 272(7):792-1803. JOURNAL COVER PAGE.

R.M. Epand, B.G. Sayer and R.F. Epand.2005. Caveolin Scaffolding Region and Cholesterol-Rich Domains in Membranes. J. Mol. Biol., 345(2):339-350.

R.M. Epand. Do proteins facilitate the formation of cholesterol-rich domains? 2004. Biochim. Biophys. Acta, Nov 3;1666(1-2):227-38.

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