Sungmin Shin

Mr. Sungmin Shin

Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Central Singapore, Singapore
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Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

4Years (2023-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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10 October 2024 in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
SSSungmin Shin
Sungmin Shin
JYJingyeong Yu
Jingyeong Yu
HTHyunhyuk Tae
Hyunhyuk Tae
YZYilin Zhao
Yilin Zhao
DJDongping Jiang
Dongping Jiang
Nam-Joon ChoNam-Joon Cho
Nam-Joon Cho

Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
SSSungmin Shin
Sungmin Shin
HTHyunhyuk Tae
Hyunhyuk Tae
SPSoohyun Park
Soohyun Park
Nam-Joon ChoNam-Joon Cho
Nam-Joon Cho
Antimicrobial fatty acids derived from natural sources and renewable feedstocks are promising surface-active substances with a wide range of applications. Their ability to target bacterial membrane in multiple mechanisms offers a promising antimicrobial approach for combating bacterial infections and preventing the development of drug-resistant strains, and it provides a sustainable strategy that aligns with growing environmental awareness compared to their synthetic counterparts. However, the interaction and destabilization of bacterial cell membranes by these amphiphilic compounds are not yet fully understood. Here, we investigated the concentration-dependent and time-dependent membrane interaction between long-chain unsaturated fatty acids—linolenic acid (LNA, C18:3), linoleic (LLA, C18:2), and oleic acid (OA, C18:1)—and the supported lipid bilayers (SLBs) using quartz crystal microbalance-dissipation (QCM-D) and fluorescence microscopy. We first determined the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of each compound using a fluorescence spectrophotometer and monitored the membrane interaction in real time following fatty acid treatment, whereby all micellar fatty acids elicited membrane-active behavior primarily above their respective CMC values. Specifically, LNA and LLA, which have higher degrees of unsaturation and CMC values of 160 µM and 60 µM, respectively, caused significant changes in the membrane with net |Δf| shifts of 23.2 ± 0.8 Hz and 21.4 ± 0.6 Hz and ΔD shifts of 5.2 ± 0.5 × 10−6 and 7.4 ± 0.5 × 10−6. On the other hand, OA, with the lowest unsaturation degree and CMC value of 20 µM, produced relatively less membrane change with a net |Δf| shift of 14.6 ± 2.2 Hz and ΔD shift of 8.8 ± 0.2 × 10−6. Both LNA and LLA required higher concentrations than OA to initiate membrane remodeling as their CMC values increased with the degree of unsaturation. Upon incubating with fluorescence-labeled model membranes, the fatty acids induced tubular morphological changes at concentrations above CMC. Taken together, our findings highlight the critical role of self-aggregation properties and the degree of unsaturated bonds in unsaturated long-chain fatty acids upon modulating membrane destabilization, suggesting potential applications in developing sustainable and effective antimicrobial strategies.