Inverse Bicontinuous and Discontinuous Phases of Lipids, and Membrane Curvature

In this review article I briefly describe lipid self-assembly, interfacial curvature, and lyotropic phase diagrams. I then go on to describe how the phase behaviour can be controlled, and the structure of lyotropic phases can be tuned, by various parameters such as temperature, hydrostatic pressure, or the addition of amphiphilic molecules such as fatty acids, diacylglycerols, and cholesterol. I then give a few illustrations of how such structures/phases may play roles in lipid-based biotechnologies, and in biomembrane systems.