The global increase of bacterial resistance to antibiotics has led to increasing interest in research focusing on the development and characterization of new antimicrobial agents. One class of promising antimicrobials found in nature are Antimicrobial Peptides (AMPs). We have designed different amphiphilic AMPs by balancing their antimicrobial potency against their cytotoxicity to mammalian host cells. In this work, we propose to use neutron reflection to characterise the model lipid bilayers mimicking the outer membrane of Gram-negative E. coli, followed by the characterisation of binding of 3 representative AMPs. In this exploratory study we wish to identify the structural evidence to support the belief of recruitment of AMPs by lipopolysaccharides, a crucial step in effective bactericidal action.
