Did you know the combined recommended daily intake of Iron, Zinc and Copper is 35 mg per day? Many proteins in practically every living organism require metal ions to do their job. Additionally, an abundance of some metals such as Mercury and Lead can be extremely toxic. Studying the behavior of metal ions in biological systems is vital to our understanding of cellular physiology. Our group has recently discovered that Copper can interact strongly with specific lipids in the cell membrane. My research interest lies in characterizing how copper and other metal ions interact with lipids in model membranes and determining if these interactions play a role in human physiology. I am particularly interested in studying how metal/lipid interactions could affect apoptosis, blood clotting and be related to illnesses such as Autism.
6. Cu2+ Binds to Phosphatidylethanolamine and Increases Oxidation in Lipid Membranes
Matthew F. Poyton, Anne M. Sendecki, Xiao Cong, and Paul S. Cremer
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2016, 138(5), 1584-1590 pdf
5. Unquenchable Surface Potential Dramatically Enhances Cu2+ Binding to Phosphatidylserine Lipids
Xiao Cong, Matthew F. Poyton, Alexis J. Baxter, Saranya Pullanchery, and Paul S. Cremer
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2015, 137(24), 7785-7792 pdf
4. Chemotactic Separation of Enzymes
Krishna Kanti Dey, Sambeeta Das, Matthew F. Poyton, Samudra Sengupta, Peter Butler, Paul S. Cremer, Ayusman Sen
ACS Nano, 2014, 8(12) 11941-11949 pdf
3. Electrophoretic Measurements of Lipid Charges in Supported Membranes
Matthew F. Poyton and Paul S. Cremer
Anal. Chem., 2013, 85, 10803-10811 pdf
2. Phosphatidylserine Reversibly Binds Cu2+ with Extremely High Affinity
Christopher F. Monson, Xiao Cong, Aaron Robison, Hudson P. Pace, Chunming Liu, Matthew F. Poyton, and Paul S. Cremer
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 134 (2012) 7773-7779 pdf