Research Projects

Water channels are systems that allow water to pass across lipid bilayer membranes through nanopores. Aquaporins, proteins-based channels, are essential for biological processes like osmotic balance regulation and cell volume regulation. They perform physiological functions like secretion and absorption of spinal fluid in the brain, urine concentration maintenance in kidneys, generation of aqueous humor in eyes, and secretion of tears, saliva, and sweat. Researchers have been interested in developing artificial mimics of aquaporins to solve stability and compatibility issues. Over the past decade, various artificial water channels have been developed to achieve superfast water translocation across bilayer membranes. However, few systems exhibit excellent salt and proton exclusion behavior, making them less selective for water over ions. To address this issue, researchers propose designing self-assembled channel structures using peptide 1,2-diol and benzohydrazide for self-assembly and water recognition processes. Amino moieties are crucial for self-assembly through H-bonding interactions. The water transport properties of these systems will be applied in the water purification process or seawater desalination process. Self-assembled supramolecular polymeric systems are expected to show excellent insertion efficiency in the fabrication process in the polymeric membrane. The results of this project could also help address water channel disorder-related diseases such as nephrogenic diabetes insipidus and neuromyelitis optica.