Structure of Biological Membranes

Since 1965 the Nobel Foundation sponsors, through grants from the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Fund, Sym­ posia on subjects which are considered to be of central scientific importance and for which new results of a special interest have been reached. The aim of these Symposia is to bring together, by personal invitation, a limited number of leading scientists from various countries to discuss the current research situation within the field and to define the most urgent problems to be solved. One of the most important fields in modern biome­ dical research concerns the structure and function of biological membranes. Research on this subject is very active and important scientific contributions appear at an increasing rate. It was therefore considered highly appropriate to devote Nobel Symposium 34 to the struc­ ture of membranes in order to get an expert summary of what is now known in the field. The Symposium was held at Hotel Billingehus in Skovde (about 150 km from Goteborg), Sweden, from June 7 to 11, 1976. In addition to the grant from the Nobel Foundation financial support was received from the No­ bel Institute of Chemistry of the Royal Academy of Sciences and from the Science Fund of Wilhelm and Martina Lundgren. The Symposium was attended by some 50 scientists. The papers in this Volume had been distributed in ad­ vance to all partiCipants. Therefore only summary pre­ sentations needed be given at the Symposium and the main emphasis was put on discussions.

Molecular Arrangement and Conformation of Lipids of Relevance to Membrane Structure.- Energy Conservation by Proton Transport through Chloroplast Membranes.- Energy Transduction in the Chromatophore Membrane.- Monomolecular Films and Membrane Structure.- Phase Transitions, Protein Aggregation and Membrane Fluidity.- Biosynthesis and Transport of Microsomal Membrane Glycoproteins.- Some Topological and Dynamic Aspects of Lipids in the Erythrocyte Membrane.- The Molecular Motion of Spin Labeled Amphiphilic Molecules in Model Membranes.- Dynamics of Membrane-Associated Energy-Transducing Catalysts. A Study with Mitochondrial Adenosine Triphosphatase Inhibitor.- The Myelin Membrane and its Basic Proteins.- Regulation of Pancreatic Phospholipase A2 Activity by Different Lipid-Water Interfaces.- Molecular Organization and the Fluid Nature of the Mitochondrial Energy Transducing Membrane.- Phospholipid Metabolism in Some Excitable Biological Membranes.- Aspects on Structure and Function of Sphingolipids in Cell Surface Membranes.- The Membrane of the Hen Erythrocyte as a Model for Studies on Membrane Fusion.- Some Electrical and Structural Properties of Lipid-Water Systems.- X-Ray Scattering Studies of Protein-Lipid Systems in Solution: The Example of Bovine Rhodopsin.- Immunochemistry of Model Membranes Containing Spin-Labeled Haptens.- On the Coupling of the Glucagon nylate Cyclase Receptor to Adenylate Cyclase.- Recent Findings in the Structural and Functional Aspects of the Peptide Ionophores.- Incorporation of Integral Membrane Proteins into Liposomes.- Lipid Asymmetry, Clustering and Molecular Motion in Biological Membranes and their Models.- Oligosaccharides of the Membrane Glycoproteins of Semliki Forest Virus.- Phospholipases as Structural and Functional Probes for Circulating Lipoproteins.- The Fluid Mosaic Model of Membrane Structure.- Coupling of Chemical Reaction to Transport of Sodium and Potassium.- Proton Translocation by Bacteriorhodopsin in Model Systems.- State of Association of Membrane Proteins.- Membrane Electrostatics.- Dynamics and Thermodynamics of Lipid-Protein Interactions in Membranes.- Participants.