Itay Schachter

This study uses fluorescence, cryo-EM, and simulations to show how R9 peptides interact with membranes, causing structural changes like budding and stacking, and proposes a unified mechanism for their penetration.

The paper identifies a morphological phase transition in hemifused vesicles during internalization, showing how physical parameters influence the transition between lens-like and kettle geometries.

The paper uses continuum elastic theory to show lipid demixing reduces energy barriers for high curvature vesicle budding, but requires phase separation for significant compositional deviations.