Paulo Almeida

University of North Carolina Wilmington, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Professor, 2011–2023
• Professor & Chair, 2018–2022
• Associate Professor, 2006–2011
• Assistant Professor, 2001–2006

University of Coimbra, Portugal, Department of Chemistry,
Assistant Professor, 1998–2001

University of Algarve, Portugal, School of Exact and Human Sciences,
Assistant Professor, 1992–1993 & 1996–1998

Education

• BS in Biochemistry, 1985, University of Coimbra, Portugal
• PhD in Biochemistry, 1992, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va
• Post-Doc in Pharmacology and Biophysics, 1994-1995, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

Specialization in Teaching

Beyond research, I have always been committed to the education of undergraduate students. I wrote a book titled Proteins: Concepts in Biochemistry, published by Garland, 2016. The book was intended as a teaching instrument particularly geared to advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students. I approach the subject of proteins from a conceptual point if view, connecting structure, evolution, thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and kinetics. The second edition of the book is expected to be published in 2025.

Area of specialization:
• Biochemistry and Biophysical Chemistry

Courses Taught at UNCW:
• General Chemistry (CHM 101 and CHM 102)
• Organic Chemistry (CHM 211 and CHM 212)
• Biochemistry (CHM 365)
• Biophysical Chemistry (CHM 325)
• Introduction to Research (CHM 350)
• Senior Seminar (CHM 595)
• Advanced Biochemistry (CHM 568)

Research Interests

• Lipid Interactions in Membranes
We still don’t understand how cholesterol interacts with other lipids and what its function in the membrane is. I have used a statistical mechanical approach to understanding these interactions and interpret experimental data from fluorescence, calorimetry, and nearest-neighbor interactions, the latter in the course of an extensive collaboration with Steve Regen (Lehigh). I have tried to place a number of different investigations under a common conceptual understanding of what these interactions are, how strong they are, and what they mean for the organization and the thermodynamic properties of membranes.

• Peptide-Lipid Interactions
For the past 15 years, most of my attention has been devoted to the interactions of peptides and lipids in membranes, in great part in collaboration with Antje Pokorny Almeida. We have studied the interactions between amphipathic helical peptides (cell-penetrating, antimicrobial, and cytolytic) and membranes. I have been especially interested in understanding the spontaneous translocation of amphipathic peptides across membranes. My approach has always been quantitative, combining thermodynamics, kinetics, analytical, and computational methods, with experimental physical methods to understand peptide interactions and translocation across membranes in model membrane systems of biological relevance. During 2012–2016, we discovered some of the rules that determine the ability of peptides to spontaneously translocate across membranes and showed that positively charged peptides can cross lipid bilayers, in a way governed only by the laws of thermodynamics. Now, that interest is combined with a long-standing interest in protein folding, applied β-hairpin peptides and they assemble to fold into membrane β-barrels.

Professional Service

• Member of the Editorial Board of Biophysical Journal, 2010–2016.
• Member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Langmuir (ACS), since 2017.
• Member of the Biophysical Society, since 1989.
• Member of the American Chemical Society, since 1999.
• Chair of the Membrane Structure and Assembly Subgroup of the Biophysical Society, 2011.
• Member of the Advisory Committee of the Membrane Structure and Assembly Subgroup of the Biophysical Society, 2009–2012.
• Reviewer for professional journals in the areas of biochemistry and biophysics.
• Reviewer for external granting agencies.

Honors & Awards

• Cottrel Scholar, Honor Awarded by Research Corporation, April 2023.
• Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award, UNCW 2013.
• James F. Merritt, Million Dollar Club, UNCW 2012