Dr Chiranjit Dutta, first author of the paper and now a post-doctoral research fellow in the US, performing the experiments as a research fellow at NUS in 2021. Credit: National University of Singapore
A team led by scientists from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Department of Biological Sciences in collaboration with the French Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) has successfully synthesized a special protein-mimic that can self-assemble into a pore structure. When incorporated into a lipid membrane, the pores permit selective transport of water across the membrane while rejecting salt (ions).
These protein-mimics, known as ‘oligourea foldamers,’ represent an entirely new class of