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  • RESEARCH BRIEFINGS

Cholesterol can make surfaces non-stick

Surfaces that contain cholesterol, such as the skin of some invertebrates, can repel other molecules, preventing the adsorption of proteins and bacteria. Experiments, simulations and thermodynamic analyses show that this repulsive quality depends on cholesterol molecules rotating freely and switching their orientation.

This is a summary of: Friedrichs, J. et al. Entropic repulsion of cholesterol-containing layers counteracts bioadhesion. Nature 618, 733–739 (2023).

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-01681-y

‘Expert opinion’ and the figure are published under a CC BY 4.0 licence.

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