Understanding the organization of phenylalanine in and around a model cellular membrane

Phenylalanine (Phe) is one of the essential amino acids that act as a precursor for the synthesis of various neurotransmitters. Imbalance of these molecules causes many diseases (e.g. Phenylketonuria, Alzheimer’, etc) which are mainly associated with the self-assembly of toxic fibrillar aggregates of Phe around the brain membrane. It is important to investigate effects of such Phe fibrillar aggregates on the cell membrane to understand the mechanism of their adverse actions. Present study will provide a molecular level description of this assembly in the model brain membrane which will be quantified by the neutron reflectivity.