Amanda Ferrante COE’26, “Elucidating the Effects of Cholesterol on the Function of Surfactant Protein C using Atomistic Molecular Dynamics”

This study investigates the role of Surfactant Protein C (SP-C) in the pulmonary surfactant (PS) system – a complex lipid-protein system in lung alveoli essential for breathing. SP-C plays a crucial role in maintaining surface pressure and structure in the lungs, and recent findings suggest that SP-C may interact with cholesterol, altering membrane structure. Given the health significance of elevated cholesterol, using atomistic molecular dynamics to simulate systems of five different cholesterol concentrations to understand its impact on SP-C gives insight into how this mechanism functions with clinical applications in synthetic surfactant treatments. Findings will be shared at internal conferences.

Read the full article