Winner of the 2nd prize in the “Protein Science in Images” 2025 competition

Author

Name: Jyler Ménard
Affiliation: Concordia
Contest year: 2025, Winner of the 2nd prize of the “La science des protéines imagée” contest.

Photo title

Shining a spotlight on a molecular dance

Photo description

This image captures an early moment in a membrane attack — an elegant microscopic dance that can rupture the bacterial membrane. A sea of green and olive molecules forms a protective barrier representing the membrane of a bacterium. Moving across this surface are strands of the engineered antimicrobial peptide GL13K. Antimicrobial peptides are able to kill bacteria by disrupting their membrane like destroying a house’s walls. Its orange side groups are positively-charged, acting like electric hooks, allowing them to cling to the negatively-charged membrane. Near the center, two illuminated peptides meet under the spotlight, twisting together in a moment resembling a dance. But their choreography holds a vital purpose: embedding into the membrane, these molecules weaken then rupture it, killing the bacterium. My research uses computer simulations to understand this dance and help design better antimicrobial drugs for a future without antibiotic resistance.