IN13 is mainly devoted to life sciences, in particular to the study of the dynamical features of macromolecular compounds in the μeV energy region, but scientific applications can be also found in areas of materials science, solid-state physics, geophysics and chemistry. Some examples of fields of investigation are cited here.

Biology

Membranes

• Dynamics of gangliosides in bilayer domains.
• Transfection efficiency versus membrane dynamics in DNA-cationic complexes.
  

Protein

• The effects of secondary structure on membrane protein dynamics (E. coli outer membranes).
• Dynamics of protein and RNA components in large protein-nucleic acid complexes.
  

Protein/membrane interactions

• Dynamics-activity relations in Purple membranes.
• The MBP-DMPA proteo-lipid complex: a model for understanding myelin pathological breakdown.
• Study of macromolecular dynamics in-situ in functional biological cells and membranes under normal physiological conditions.
  

Extreme environmental conditions

• High pressure studies in the biosciences and biotechnology.
• Influence of temperature and pressure on the relationship between structure, dynamics and function of proteins.
  

In-vivo studies

• Adaptation of in-vivo macromolecular dynamics in mesophilic, halophilic, psychrophilic, thermophilic and hyperthermophilic bacterial
• and archaeal cells.
  

Saccharides

• Dynamic processes in organised structures of saccharide-based systems.
  

Confined media

• Incoherent quasi-elastic neutron scattering study of water confined in silica hydrogels.

Main chain and side chain motions in polymers

Conducting acid-doped polymers

• Dynamics of counter-ions and of main chain in polyaniline doped by camphor sulphonic acid.
  

Inclusion compounds

• Dynamics of included species in the channels of urea.

Transfection efficiency versus membrane dynamics in DNA-cationic complexes

Human gene therapy is defined as the transfer of nucleic acids to somatic cells of a patient providing a therapeutic effect. Among the non-viral carriers, cationic liposomes attract a significant interest because of their unique properties and their efficiency in acting as vehicles for DNA delivery into eukariotic cells.

Neutron scattering plays a key role in understanding the proton dynamics (mainly arising from the H atoms) governed by the neutral-cationic lipid mixture and by the lipid/DNA (lipoplex) complexes. Elastic incoherent neutron scattering experiments over a wide temperature range have shown that the out-of-plane lipid motions in lipoplexes are significantly enhanced at the isoelectric point where charge balancing is reached.