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Emergent functional structures in cell membranes

Many biological processes are mediated by collections of interacting molecules in cell membranes, such as our sensation of touch and regulation of the heart rate. Importantly, experiments increasingly provide quantitative data on the structural organization of cell membranes from molecular length scales to length scales of hundreds of nanometers, allowing us to quantify biological structure and function beyond single molecules. How do such new, biologically functional structures emerge from molecular interactions, and what key physical properties do these structures depend on? We show here that theoretical physics can explain quantitatively how new biological properties emerge from molecular interactions in cell membranes. We consider two case studies in detail: We show that mechanosensing through Piezo ion channels relies crucially on Piezo-lipid bilayer interactions, and that membrane proteins self-assemble into higher-order transient structures (HOTS) so as to slow or speed the heart rate.