School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences

Dr Evelyne Deplazes

Senior Lecturer & Director, Higher Degree by Research
School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences
+61 7 336 54180
Molecular Biosciences Building (76), Room 331
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About me

I am a biophysical and computational chemist with a passion for the molecular world. My research and teaching are driven by my innate curiosity and my love for solving puzzles.

After a double degree in Chemistry and Computer Science (2003-2007), I received my PhD in Computational Biophysics from the University of Western (2012). I then spent four years as an Early Career Research Fellow at The University of Queensland and two years at Curtin University, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). In 2019, I started my independent research group at the University of Technology Sydney, which I now continue after returning to The University of Queensland in 2021.

Apart from my research, I am a passionate advocate for mental health in academia and supporting PhD students. My teaching and supervision are guided by encouraging students to become 'critical thinkers'. I practice mindful leadership and aim to integrate kindness and gratitude into how I lead my research team. 

Research Focus and Collaborations

The research in my lab combines computer simulations and biophysical chemistry experiments to study biomolecular systems with a particular focus on understanding how small molecules interact with biological membranes. We aim to use the knowledge and tools from our research to help develop new pharmaceuticals or understand fundamental processes such as membrane permeation. In addition, we are interested in studying the structure and function of proteins.

We collaborate with peptide chemists, microbiologists, and cell biologists to link our model systems to cell-based systems. This video and our recent outreach article tell you more about why cell membranes are important for understanding biological processes or developing new drugs. 

Antifungal peptides

Invasive fungal infections are difficult to treat, and many current drugs are toxic to human cells. This project studies the membrane-altering properties of peptides or steroid drugs that have antifungal activity or that increase the potency of existing anti-fungal drugs. Understanding the mechanism of action of these compounds will help develop less toxic antifungal treatments. This project is a collaboration with fungal biologists and combines biophysical chemistry and cell-based experiments.

Ex-vivo and in-silico structural models of fungal cell membranes and cell walls

Targets for developing antifungal drugs are limited due to the similarity between fungal and human cells and most antifungal drugs work by interfering with the cell wall or cell membrane. Lipid vesicles or other model membrane systems are regularly used to study drug-membrane interactions, but these model systems are too simplistic to capture the complexity of the cell membrane or wall. This project aims to develop ex-vivo membrane models that better capture drug-membrane interactions. We do this using both biophysical chemistry approaches and computer simulations (in-silico).

What drives the haemolytic activity of antimicrobial peptides

The rise of antibiotic resistance has renewed the interest in antimicrobial peptides with complex, membrane-based mechanisms. While AMPs have potent antibiotic activity, most of them are also haemolytic (they rupture red blood cells). This project aims to use lipid extracts from cells to develop membrane models that more accurately mimic the haemolytic activity of AMPs and help identify what properties give a peptide potent antibiotic activity yet would be safe to use in humans. 

Steroid – membrane interactions

Steroids are a class of chemical compounds that occur naturally in the body (e.g. progesterone or testosterone) and are also used to treat a range of conditions such as asthma, eczema or arthritis. Steroids exert their biological or pharmacological activities via a range of different mechanisms, including altering the structure and fluidity of cell membranes. We combine computer simulations and various wet-lab experiments to understand how steroids interact with membranes and how this might be used to modulate the function of membrane proteins.  

Techniques you learn in our group may include fluorescence and UV-vis spectroscopy, isothermal calorimetry, Tethered lipid bilayer membranes (see this video), molecular dynamics simulations.

Competitive Access to Research Infrastructure 

2024 Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering (beam-time, in-kind value $82,784).
          CIA Ms Hartman (UTS, PhD student), CIB Dr Deplazes (UQ), CIC Dr Cranfield (UTS),
          CID Dr Holt (ANSTO), CIE Dr Russell (ANSTO).
          Project title:  Investigating the synergy of a Lactoferrin-derived peptide and the anti-fungal drug
          Amphotericin B

2023 Australian Centre for Neutron Scattering (beam time, in-kind value $33,122).
          CIA Ms Hartman (UTS, PhD student), CIB Dr Deplazes (UQ), CIC Dr Cranfield (UTS),
          CID Dr Holt (ANSTO), CIE Dr Russell (ANSTO)
          Project title:  Investigating the synergy of a Lactoferrin-derived peptide and the anti-fungal drug
          Amphotericin B

2023/2024 National Computing Merit Allocation Scheme (Lead-CI)
          UQ. 1,000,000 CPU-hours - $40,000
          Project title: Towards realistic models of permeability and pore formation in biological membranes

2022/2023 National Computing Merit Allocation Scheme (Lead-CI)
          UQ. 1,500,000 CPU-hours - $60,000
          Project title: Towards realistic models of permeability and pore formation in biological membranes

2021/2022 National Computing Merit Allocation Scheme (Lead-CI) 
          UQ. 2,000,000 CPU-hours - $80,000
          Project title: Towards realistic models of permeability and pore formation in biological membranes

Featured Publications

Phenolic compounds alter the ion permeability of phospholipid bilayers via specific lipid interactions
Hossain, Sheikh I., Saha, Suvash C., Deplazes, Evelyne, (2021). Phenolic compounds alter the ion permeability of phospholipid bilayers via specific lipid interactions. Biophysical Journal, 23, 22352-22366. doi: 10.1039/D1CP03250J 

A charge-neutral organic cage selectively binds strongly hydrated sulfate anions in water
Jing Liuyang, Deplazes Evelyne, Clegg Jack K, Wu Xin, (2024), A charge-neutral organic cage selectively binds strongly hydrated sulfate anions in water. Nature Chemistry, 16, 335-342. doi: 10.1038/s41557-024-01457-5

Structural Characterization of a Cation-Selective, Self-Assembled Peptide Pore in Planar Phospholipid Bilayers
Deplazes, Evelyne, Hartmann, Lissy M., Cranfield, Charles G. and Garcia, Alvaro (2020). Structural Characterization of a Cation-Selective, Self-Assembled Peptide Pore in Planar Phospholipid Bilayers. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 11 (19), 8152-8156. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c02335

Role of Ion-Phospholipid Interactions in Zwitterionic Phospholipid Bilayer Ion Permeation
Deplazes, Evelyne, Tafalla, Beatriu Domingo, Cranfield, Charles G. and Garcia, Alvaro (2020). Role of Ion-Phospholipid Interactions in Zwitterionic Phospholipid Bilayer Ion Permeation. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 11 (15), 6353-6358. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c01479

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Small Molecules Interacting with Biological Membranes
Martinotti, Carlo, Ruiz-Perez, Lanie, Deplazes, Evelyne and Mancera, Ricardo L. (2020). Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Small Molecules Interacting with Biological Membranes. Chemphyschem, 21 (14), 1486-1514. doi: 10.1002/cphc.202000219

The effect of hydronium ions on the structure of phospholipid membranes
Deplazes, Evelyne, Poger, David, Cornell, Bruce and Cranfield, Charles G. (2017). The effect of hydronium ions on the structure of phospholipid membranes. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 20 (1), 357-366. doi: 10.1039/c7cp06776c

Membrane-binding properties of gating modifier and pore-blocking toxins: membrane interaction is not a prerequisite for modification of channel gating
Deplazes, Evelyne, Troeira Henriques, Sonia, Smith, Jennifer J., King, Glenn F., Craik, David J., Mark, Alan E. and Schroeder, Christina I. (2016). Membrane-binding properties of gating modifier and pore-blocking toxins: membrane interaction is not a prerequisite for modification of channel gating. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Biomembranes, 1858 (4), 872-882. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2016.02.002

Researcher biography

I was awarded my PhD in Computational Biophysics from the University of Western Australia (2012) for my work on combining molecular modelling and simulation approaches with fluorescence spectroscopy experiments to study mechanosensitive ion channels.

Following this, I carried out Postdoctoral work at the University of Queensland and Curtin University, funded by Early Career Fellowships from the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Australian National Health and Research Council (NHMRC). In 2019, I joined UTS under a UTS Chancellor's Postdoctoral Research Fellowship and started my independent research group. In 2021, I returned to the University of Queensland as a Senior Lecturer.

Apart from my research, I am a passionate advocate for mental health in academia and

supporting PhD students. My teaching and supervision are guided by encouraging students to become 'critical thinkers'. I practice mindful leadership and aim to integrate kindness and gratitude into how I lead my research team.

Publications

Book Chapters (4)
Journal Articles (58)
Conference Papers (5)

Book Chapters

Hartmann, Lissy M., Garcia, Alvaro, Deplazes, Evelyne and Cranfield, Charles G. (2022). Determining the Pore Size of Multimeric Peptide Ion Channels Using Cation Conductance Measures of Tethered Bilayer Lipid Membranes. Methods in Molecular Biology. (pp. 81-92) New York, NY: Humana Press Inc.. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1843-1_7
Hossain, Sheikh I., Islam, Mohammad Z., Saha, Suvash C. and Deplazes, Evelyne (2022). Drug meets monolayer: understanding the interactions of sterol drugs with models of the lung surfactant monolayer using molecular dynamics simulations. Methods in molecular biology. (pp. 103-121) edited by Charles G. Cranfield. New York, NY United States: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1843-1_9
O’Mara, Megan L. and Deplazes, Evelyne (2014). Polypeptide and protein modeling for drug design. Encyclopedia of computational neuroscience. (pp. 1-9) New York, United States: Springer . doi: 10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_732-1
O'Mara, Megan and Deplazes, Evelyne (2014). Polypeptide and protein modeling for drug design. Encyclopedia of computational neuroscience. (pp. 2439-2447) edited by Dieter Jaeger and Ranu Jung. Berlin, Germany: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4614-6675-8_732

Journal Articles

Li, Jiayu, Eagles, David A., Tucker, Isaac J., Pereira Schmidt, Anneka C. and Deplazes, Evelyne (2024). Secondary structure propensities of the Ebola delta peptide E40 in solution and model membrane environments. Biophysical Chemistry, 314 107318, 107318. doi: 10.1016/j.bpc.2024.107318
Jing, Liuyang, Deplazes, Evelyne, Clegg, Jack K. and Wu, Xin (2024). A charge-neutral organic cage selectively binds strongly hydrated sulfate anions in water. Nature Chemistry, 16 (3), 1-8. doi: 10.1038/s41557-024-01457-5
Ganio, Katherine, Nasreen, Marufa, Yang, Zihao, Maunders, Eve A., Luo, Zhenyao, Hossain, Sheikh Imamul, Ngu, Dalton H. Y., Ellis, Daniel, Gu, Jin, Neville, Stephanie L., Wilksch, Jonathan, Gunn, Adam P., Whittall, Jonathan J., Kobe, Boštjan, Deplazes, Evelyne, Kappler, Ulrike and McDevitt, Christopher A. (2024). Hfe permease and Haemophilus influenzae manganese homeostasis. ACS Infectious Diseases, 10 (2), 436-452. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.3c00407
Rottet, Sarah, Iqbal, Shagufta, Xifaras, Rachel, Singer, Michael T., Scott, Colin, Deplazes, Evelyne and Callaghan, Richard (2023). Biochemical interactions between the Atm1-like transporter from Novosphingobium aromaticivorans and heavy metals. Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 744 109696, 109696. doi: 10.1016/j.abb.2023.109696
Moore, Sandra J., Deplazes, Evelyne and Mancera, Ricardo L. (2023). Influence of force field choice on the conformational landscape of rat and human islet amyloid polypeptide. Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics, 91 (3), 338-353. doi: 10.1002/prot.26432
Islam, Mohammad Zohurul, Hossain, Sheikh I., Deplazes, E., Luo, Zhen and Saha, Suvash C. (2022). The concentration-dependent effect of hydrocortisone on the structure of model lung surfactant monolayer by using an in silico approach. RSC Advances, 12 (51), 33313-33328. doi: 10.1039/d2ra05268g
Iqbal, Shagufta, Flux, Caitlin, Briggs, Deborah A., Deplazes, Evelyne, Long, Jiansi, Skrzypek, Ruth, Rothnie, Alice, Kerr, Ian D. and Callaghan, Richard (2022). Vinca alkaloid binding to P-glycoprotein occurs in a processive manner. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Biomembranes, 1864 (10) 184005, 1-10. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2022.184005
Hossain, Sheikh I., Seppelt, Mathilda, Nguyen, Natalie, Stokes, Chelsea and Deplazes, Evelyne (2022). The role of ion-lipid interactions and lipid packing in ion-induced pores and transient defects caused by phenolic compounds. Biophysical Journal, 121 (18), 3520-3532. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2022.08.001
Islam, Mohammad Zohurul, Hossain, Sheikh I., Deplazes, Evelyne and Saha, Suvash C. (2022). Concentration-dependent cortisone adsorption and interaction with model lung surfactant monolayer. Molecular Simulation, 48 (18), 1627-1638. doi: 10.1080/08927022.2022.2113397
Alquethamy, Saleh, Ganio, Katherine, Luo, Zhenyao, Hossain, Sheikh I., Hayes, Andrew J., Ve, Thomas, Davies, Mark R., Deplazes, Evelyne, Kobe, Boštjan and McDevitt, Christopher A. (2022). Structural and biochemical characterization of Acinetobacter baumannii ZnuA. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, 231 111787, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2022.111787
Maunders, Eve A., Ngu, Dalton H. Y., Ganio, Katherine, Hossain, Sheikh I., Lim, Bryan Y. J., Leeming, Michael G., Luo, Zhenyao, Tan, Aimee, Deplazes, Evelyne, Kobe, Boštjan and McDevitt, Christopher A. (2022). The impact of chromate on Pseudomonas aeruginosa molybdenum homeostasis. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13 903146, 1-19. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.903146
Islam, Mohammad Zohurul, Krajewska, Martyna, Hossain, Sheikh I., Prochaska, Krystyna, Anwar, Azraf, Deplazes, Evelyne and Saha, Suvash C. (2022). Concentration-dependent effect of the steroid drug prednisolone on a lung surfactant monolayer. Langmuir, 38 (14), 4188-4199. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c02817
Islam, Mohammad Zohurul, Hossain, Sheikh I., Deplazes, Evelyne and Saha, Suvash C. (2022). The steroid mometasone alters protein containing lung surfactant monolayers in a concentration-dependent manner. Journal of Molecular Graphics and Modelling, 111 108084, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.jmgm.2021.108084
Knott, Gavin J, Chong, Yee Seng, Passon, Daniel M, Liang, Xue-hai, Deplazes, Evelyne, Conte, Maria R, Marshall, Andrew C, Lee, Mihwa, Fox, Archa H and Bond, Charles S (2022). Structural basis of dimerization and nucleic acid binding of human DBHS proteins NONO and PSPC1. Nucleic Acids Research, 50 (1), 522-535. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkab1216
Aguilar, Mibel, Bassereau, Patricia, Bastos, Margarida, Beales, Paul, Bechinger, Burkhard, Bonev, Boyan, Brand, Izabella, Chalouhi, Edward, Clarke, Ronald J., Deplazes, Evelyne, Fraternali, Franca, Fuchs, Patrick, Hoogenboom, Bart, Lund, Reidar, Mahmoudi, Najet, Milán Rodríguez, Paula, O'Shea, Paul, Pabst, Georg, Pal, Sreetama, Rice, Amy, Sanderson, John, Seddon, John, Sengupta, Durba, Siegel, David P., Srivastava, Anand, Utterström, Johanna, Vácha, Robert, Van 'T Hag, Leonie, Vijayakumar, Aishwarya and Zoranić, Larisa (2021). Peptide-membrane interactions and biotechnology; enabling next-generation synthetic biology: general discussion. Faraday Discussions, 232, 463-481. doi: 10.1039/d1fd90068d
Aguilar, Marie-Isabel, Al Nahas, Kareem, Barrera, Francisco N., Bassereau, Patricia, Bechinger, Burkhard, Brand, Izabella, Chattopadhyay, Amitabha, Clarke, Ronald J., Degrado, William F., Deplazes, Evelyne, Fletcher, Marcus, Fraternali, Franca, Fuchs, Patrick, Garcia-Saez, Ana J., Gilbert, Robert, Hoogenboom, Bart W., Jarin, Zack, O'Shea, Paul, Pabst, Georg, Pal, Sreetama, Sanderson, John M., Seddon, John M., Sengupta, Durba, Siegel, David P., Srivastava, Anand, Tieleman, D. Peter, Tripathy, Madhusmita, Utterström, Johanna, Vácha, Robert ... Voth, Gregory A. (2021). Theoretical and experimental comparisons of simple peptide-membrane systems; towards defining the reaction space: general discussion. Faraday Discussions, 232, 149-171. doi: 10.1039/d1fd90065j
Crowley, Jackson, Withana, Minduli and Deplazes, Evelyne (2021). The interaction of steroids with phospholipid bilayers and membranes. Biophysical Reviews, 14 (1), 163-179. doi: 10.1007/s12551-021-00918-2
Aguilar, Mibel, Al Nahas, Kareem, Barrera, Francisco, Bassereau, Patricia, Bastos, Margarida, Beales, Paul, Bechinger, Burkhard, Bonev, Boyan, Brand, Izabella, Chattopadhyay, Amitabha, Clarke, Ronald J., Degrado, William, Deplazes, Evelyne, Garcia Saez, Ana J., Hoogenboom, Bart, Lund, Reidar, Milán Rodríguez, Paula, O'Shea, Paul, Pabst, Georg, Pal, Sreetama, Roux, Aurélien, Sanderson, John, Semeraro, Enrico Federico, Sengupta, Durba, Siegel, David P., Van 'T Hag, Leonie, Vijayakumar, Aishwarya and Zoranić, Larisa (2021). Theoretical and experimental studies of complex peptide-membrane systems: General discussion. Faraday Discussions, 232, 256-281. doi: 10.1039/d1fd90066h
Deplazes, Evelyne, Tafalla, Beatriu Domingo, Murphy, Christopher, White, Jacqueline, Cranfield, Charles G. and Garcia, Alvaro (2021). Calcium ion binding at the lipid–water interface alters the ion permeability of phospholipid bilayers. Langmuir, 37 (48) acs.langmuir.1c02016, 14026-14033. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.1c02016
Hossain, Sheikh I., Luo, Zhen, Deplazes, Evelyne and Saha, Suvash C. (2021). Shape matters: the interaction of gold nanoparticles with model lung surfactant monolayers. Journal of The Royal Society Interface, 18 (183) 20210402, 1-10. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2021.0402
Župan, Marina L., Luo, Zhenyao, Ganio, Katherine, Pederick, Victoria G., Neville, Stephanie L., Deplazes, Evelyne, Kobe, Boštjan and McDevitt, Christopher A. (2021). Conformation of the solute-binding protein AdcAII influences zinc uptake in Streptococcus pneumoniae. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 11 729981, 1-15. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.729981
Luo, Zhenyao, Morey, Jacqueline R., Deplazes, Evelyne, Motygullina, Alina, Tan, Aimee, Ganio, Katherine, Neville, Stephanie L., Eleftheriadis, Nikolaos, Isselstein, Michael, Pederick, Victoria G., Paton, James C., Cordes, Thorben, Harmer, Jeffrey R., Kobe, Bostjan and McDevitt, Christopher A. (2021). A trap-door mechanism for zinc acquisition by Streptococcus pneumoniae AdcA. mBio, 12 (1) e01958-20, 1-14. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01958-20
Hossain, Sheikh I., Saha, Suvash C. and Deplazes, Evelyne (2021). Phenolic compounds alter the ion permeability of phospholipid bilayers via specific lipid interactions. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 23 (39), 22352-22366. doi: 10.1039/d1cp03250j
Tangella, Lokeswari P., Arooj, Mahreen, Deplazes, Evelyne, Gray, Elin S. and Mancera, Ricardo L. (2021). Identification and characterisation of putative drug binding sites in human ATP-binding cassette B5 (ABCB5) transporter. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 19, 691-704. doi: 10.1016/j.csbj.2020.12.042
Murphy, Christopher, Deplazes, Evelyne, Cranfield, Charles G. and Garcia, Alvaro (2020). The role of structure and biophysical properties in the pleiotropic effects of statins. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21 (22) 8745, 1-29. doi: 10.3390/ijms21228745
Deplazes, Evelyne, Hartmann, Lissy M., Cranfield, Charles G. and Garcia, Alvaro (2020). Structural characterization of a cation-selective, self-assembled peptide pore in planar phospholipid bilayers. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 11 (19), 8152-8156. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c02335
Yu, Tsz Tin, Kuppusamy, Rajesh, Yasir, Muhammad, Hassan, Md. Musfizur, Alghalayini, Amani, Gadde, Satyanarayana, Deplazes, Evelyne, Cranfield, Charles, Willcox, Mark D. P., Black, David StC and Kumar, Naresh (2020). Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of biphenylglyoxamide-based small molecular antimicrobial peptide mimics as antibacterial agents. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21 (18) 6789, 1-38. doi: 10.3390/ijms21186789
Deplazes, Evelyne, Tafalla, Beatriu Domingo, Cranfield, Charles G. and Garcia, Alvaro (2020). Role of ion-phospholipid interactions in zwitterionic phospholipid bilayer ion permeation. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 11 (15), 6353-6358. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c01479
Garcia, Alvaro, Deplazes, Evelyne, Aili, Samira, Padula, Matthew P., Touchard, Axel, Murphy, Christopher, Lankage, Upeksha Mirissa, Nicholson, Graham M., Cornell, Bruce and Cranfield, Charles G. (2020). Label-free, real-time phospholipase-A isoform assay. ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 6 (8), 4714-4721. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.0c00632
Martinotti, Carlo, Ruiz-Perez, Lanie, Deplazes, Evelyne and Mancera, Ricardo L. (2020). Molecular dynamics simulation of small molecules interacting with biological membranes. ChemPhysChem: a European journal of chemical physics and physical chemistry, 21 (14), 1486-1514. doi: 10.1002/cphc.202000219
Sabapathy, Thiru, Deplazes, Evelyne and Mancera, Ricardo L. (2020). Revisiting the interaction of melittin with phospholipid bilayers: the effects of concentration and ionic strength. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 21 (3) 746, 746. doi: 10.3390/ijms21030746
Deplazes, Evelyne, Sarrami, Farzaneh and Poger, David (2020). Effect of H3O+ on the structure and dynamics of water at the interface with phospholipid bilayers. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 124 (8) acs.jpcb.9b10169, 1361-1373. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.9b10169
Deplazes, Evelyne, Chin, Yanni K.‐Y., King, Glenn F. and Mancera, Ricardo L. (2019). The unusual conformation of cross‐strand disulfide bonds is critical to the stability of β‐hairpin peptides. Proteins, 88 (3) prot.25828, 485-502. doi: 10.1002/prot.25828
Deplazes, Evelyne, White, Jacqueline, Murphy, Christopher, Cranfield, Charles G. and Garcia, Alvaro (2019). Competing for the same space: protons and alkali ions at the interface of phospholipid bilayers. Biophysical Reviews, 11 (3), 483-490. doi: 10.1007/s12551-019-00541-2
Deplazes, Evelyne, Poger, David, Cornell, Bruce and Cranfield, Charles G. (2018). The effect of H3O+ on the membrane morphology and hydrogen bonding of a phospholipid bilayer. Biophysical Reviews, 10 (5), 1371-1376. doi: 10.1007/s12551-018-0454-z
Moore, Sandra J., Sonar, Krushna, Bharadwaj, Prashant, Deplazes, Evelyne and Mancera, Ricardo L. (2018). Characterisation of the structure and oligomerisation of Islet Amyloid Polypeptides (IAPP): a review of molecular dynamics simulation studies. Molecules, 23 (9) 2142, 1-37. doi: 10.3390/molecules23092142
Tanner, John D., Deplazes, Evelyne and Mancera, Ricardo L. (2018). The Biological and Biophysical Properties of the Spider Peptide Gomesin. Molecules, 23 (7) 1733, 1-19. doi: 10.3390/molecules23071733
Deplazes, Evelyne (2018). Molecular simulations of venom peptide-membrane interactions: progress and challenges. Peptide Science, 110 (3) e24060, e24060. doi: 10.1002/pep2.24060
Fernandez-Rojo, Manuel A., Deplazes, Evelyne, Pineda, Sandy S., Brust, Andreas, Marth, Tano, Wilhelm, Patrick, Martel, Nick, Ramm, Grant A., Mancera, Ricardo L., Alewood, Paul F., Woods, Gregory M., Belov, Katherine, Miles, John J., King, Glenn F. and Ikonomopoulou, Maria P. (2018). Gomesin peptides prevent proliferation and lead to the cell death of devil facial tumour disease cells. Cell Death Discovery, 4 (1) 19, 19. doi: 10.1038/s41420-018-0030-0
Deplazes, Evelyne, Poger, David, Cornell, Bruce and Cranfield, Charles G. (2017). The effect of hydronium ions on the structure of phospholipid membranes. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 20 (1), 357-366. doi: 10.1039/c7cp06776c
Agwa, Akello J., Lawrence, Nicole, Deplazes, Evelyne, Cheneval, Olivier, Chen, Rachel M., Craik, David J., Schroeder, Christina I. and Henriques, Sonia T. (2017). Spider peptide toxin HwTx-IV engineered to bind to lipid membranes has an increased inhibitory potency at human voltage-gated sodium channel hNa(V)1.7 (vol 1859, pg 835, 2017). Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta-Biomembranes, 1859 (11), 2277-2277. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.08.008
Schumann-Gillett, Alexandra, Mark, Alan E., Deplazes, Evelyne and O'Mara, Megan L. (2017). A potential new, stable state of the E-cadherin strand-swapped dimer in solution. European Biophysics Journal, 47 (1), 59-67. doi: 10.1007/s00249-017-1229-3
Agwa, Akello J., Lawrence, Nicole, Deplazes, Evelyne, Cheneval, Olivier, Chen, Rachel M., Craik, David J., Schroeder, Christina I. and Henriques, Sónia T. (2017). Spider peptide toxin HwTx-IV engineered to bind to lipid membranes has an increased inhibitory potency at human voltage-gated sodium channel hNaV1.7. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. Biomembranes, 1859 (5), 835-844. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2017.01.020
Deplazes, Evelyne (2017). Molecular simulations of disulfide-rich venom peptides with ion channels and membranes. Molecules, 22 (3) 362, 362. doi: 10.3390/molecules22030362
Troeira Henriques, Sonia, Deplazes, Evelyne, Lawrence, Nicole, Cheneval, Olivier, Chaousis, Stephanie, Inserra, Marco, Thongyoo, Panumart, King, Glenn F., Mark, Alan E., Vetter, Irina, Craik, David J. and Schroeder, Christina Ingrid (2016). Interaction of tarantula venom peptide ProTx-II with lipid membranes is a prerequisite for its inhibition of human voltage-gated sodium channel NaV1.7. The Journal of Biological Chemistry, 291 (33), 17049-17065. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M116.729095
Deplazes, Evelyne, Troeira Henriques, Sonia, Smith, Jennifer J., King, Glenn F., Craik, David J., Mark, Alan E. and Schroeder, Christina I. (2016). Membrane-binding properties of gating modifier and pore-blocking toxins: membrane interaction is not a prerequisite for modification of channel gating. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Biomembranes, 1858 (4), 872-882. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2016.02.002
Deplazes, Evelyne, Davies, Josephine, Bonvin, Alexandre M. J. J., King, Glenn F. and Mark, Alan E. (2016). Combination of Ambiguous and Unambiguous Data in the Restraint-driven Docking of Flexible Peptides with HADDOCK: The Binding of the Spider Toxin PcTx1 to the Acid Sensing Ion Channel (ASIC) 1a. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 56 (1), 127-138. doi: 10.1021/acs.jcim.5b00529
Deplazes, Evelyne, Begg, Stephanie L., van Wonderen, Jessica H., Campbell, Rebecca, Kobe, Bostjan, Paton, James C., MacMillan, Fraser, McDevitt, Christopher A. and O'Mara, Megan L. (2015). Characterizing the conformational dynamics of metal-free PsaA usingmolecular dynamics simulations and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. Biophysical Chemistry, 207, 51-60. doi: 10.1016/j.bpc.2015.08.004
Saez, Natalie J., Deplazes, Evelyne, Cristofori-Armstrong, Ben, Chassagnon, Irene R., Lin, Xiaozhen, Mobli, Mehdi, Mark, Alan E., Rash, Lachlan D. and King, Glenn F. (2015). Molecular dynamics and functional studies define a hot spot of crystal contacts essential for PcTx1 inhibition of acid-sensing ion channel 1a. British Journal of Pharmacology, 172 (20), 4985-4995. doi: 10.1111/bph.13267
Ujvari, Beata, Casewell, Nicholas R., Sunagar, Kartik, Arbuckle, Kevin, Wuester, Wolfgang, Lo, Nathan, O'Meally, Denis, Beckmann, Christa, King, Glenn F., Deplazes, Evelyne and Madsen, Thomas (2015). Widespread convergence in toxin resistance by predictable molecular evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112 (38), 11911-11916. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1511706112
Walczewska-Szewc, Katarzyna, Deplazes, Evelyne and Corry, Ben (2015). Comparing the Ability of Enhanced Sampling Molecular Dynamics Methods To Reproduce the Behavior of Fluorescent Labels on Proteins. Journal of Chemical Theory and Computation, 11 (7), 3455-3465. doi: 10.1021/acs.jctc.5b00205
Martinac, Boris, Nomura, Takeshi, Chi, Gamma, Petrov, Evgeny, Rohde, Paul R., Battle, Andrew R., Foo, Alexander, Constantine, Maryrose, Rothnagel, Rosalba, Carne, Sonia, Deplazes, Evelyne, Cornell, Bruce, Cranfield, Charles G., Hankamer, Ben and Landsberg, Michael J. (2014). Bacterial mechanosensitive channels: models for studying mechanosensory transduction. Antioxidants and Redox Signaling, 20 (6), 952-969. doi: 10.1089/ars.2013.5471
Deplazes, Evelyne, Louhivuori, Martti, Jayatilaka, Dylan, Marrink, Siewert J. and Corry, Ben (2012). Structural investigation of MscL gating using experimental data and coarse grained MD simulations. PLoS Computational Biology, 8 (9) e1002683, e1002683. doi: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002683
Nomura, Takeshi, Cranfield, Charles G., Deplazes, Evelyne, Owen, Dylan M., Macmillan, Alex, Battle, Andrew R., Constantine, Maryrose, Sokabe, Masahiro and Martinac, Boris (2012). Differential effects of lipids and lyso-lipids on the mechanosensitivity of the mechanosensitive channels MscL and MscS. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109 (22), 8770-8775. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1200051109
Deplazes, Evelyne, Jayatilaka, Dylan and Corry, Ben (2012). ExiFRET: Flexible tool for understanding FRET in complex geometries. Journal of Biomedical Optics, 17 (1) 011005, 011005.1-011005.11. doi: 10.1117/1.JBO.17.1.011005
Deplazes, Evelyne, Jayatilaka, Dylan and Corry, Ben (2011). Testing the use of molecular dynamics to simulate fluorophore motions and FRET. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 13 (23), 11045-11054. doi: 10.1039/c1cp20447e
Varganov, Sergey A., Gilbert, Andrew T. B., Deplazes, Evelyne and Gill, Peter M. W. (2008). Resolutions of the Coulomb operator. Journal of Chemical Physics, 128 (20) 201104, 201104.1-201104.4. doi: 10.1063/1.2939239
Deplazes, E., van Bronswijk, W., Zhu, F., Barron, L.D., Ma, S., Nafie, L.A. and Jalkanen, K.J. (2008). A combined theoretical and experimental study of the structure and vibrational absorption, vibrational circular dichroism, Raman and Raman optical activity spectra of the L-histidine zwitterion. Theoretical Chemistry Accounts, 119 (1-3), 155-176. doi: 10.1007/s00214-007-0276-8

Conference Papers

Islam, M. Z., Hossain, S. I., Deplazes, E., Bhowmick, S. and Saha, S. C. (2021). Molecular dynamics study of prednisolone concentration on cholesterol based lung surfactant monolayer. International Conference on Mechanical Engineering, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 18–20 December 2019. Melville, NY, United States: A I P Publishing. doi: 10.1063/5.0037471
Schroeder, Christina, Agwa, Akello, Mueller, Alexander, Chow, Chun Yuen, Peigneur, Steve, Lawrence, Nicole, Deplazes, Evelyne, Mark, Alan, Craik, David, Tytgat, Jan, King, Glenn, Vetter, Irina and Henriques, Sonia Troeira (2018). The use of peptide-membrane interactions in the design of selective and potent sodium channel inhibitors. 35th European Peptide Symposium, Dublin City University, Ireland, 26-31 August 2018. Oxford, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons.
Schroeder, Christina I., Deplazes, Evelyn, Lawrence, Nicole, Agwa, Akello and Henriques, Sonia T. (2017). The importance of peptide-membrane interactions in toxin inhibitions of sodium channels. 58th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Society, San Francisco, United States, 15-19 February 2014. St. Louis, MO, United States: Cell Press. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2016.11.1247
Deplazes, Evelyne, Davies, Josephine, Bonvin, Alexandre M. J. J. and Mark, Alan E. (2016). On the Combination of Restraint-Driven Docking of Flexible Peptides to Ion Channels - Lessons Learnt from the Complex Formed by the Spider Venom PcTx1 and the Acid Sensing Ion Channel1. 60th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical-Society, Los Angeles, CA, United States, February 27- March 2 2016. St Louis, United States: Cell Press. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2015.11.2872
Deplazes, Evelyne, Henriques, Sonia Troeira, King, Glenn F., Craik, David J., Mark, Alan E. and Schroeder, Christina I. (2016). Membrane-binding properties of gating-modifier and pore blocking toxins: membrane interaction is not a prerequisite for modification of channel gating. 60th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical-Society, Los Angeles, United States, February 27- March 2 2016. St Louis, United States: Cell Press. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2015.11.220

Areas of research

Structural biology and biochemistry theme