Dario De Vecchis, a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Antreas Kalli at Leeds, University, in a collaborative project with Reinhart Reithmeier used molecular dynamics simulations to build the first atomic scale model of the red cell anion exchanger in a complex lipid bilayer that mimics the native membrane. This work appeared in the latest edition of the Biophyisical Journal.  The modelling revealed the dynamic nature of the interactions between the membrane and cytosolic domains of this membrane transport protein.  Lipids were found to interact at specific sites on the protein, some linked to mutations resulting in inherited disease.  Cholesterol was found at the dimer interface where it may play a role in stabilizing the interaction between subunits and regulate transport.  The model will be used to study the effects of mis-folding mutations on the protein, the formation of higher oligomer states, and the molecular details of the pathway for ion binding and translocation.