Professor Aguilar has a major research program that includes the role of peptide-membrane interactions in a variety of disease states, b-amino acid-based peptidomimetics and the development of new analytical tools for isolating membrane proteins. Specific project areas include:

Regulation of G protein-coupled receptors via specific interactions with the plasma membrane. Mechanism of protein misfolding in Alzheimer's disease. Design of novel ligands for the treatment of cardiovascular disease and HIV. Peptide-based vaccines for the treatment of cancer. Design of novel antimicrobial peptides.

Lee TH, Hirst D, and Aguilar MI, ‘New Insights into the Molecular Mechanisms of Biomembrane Structural Changes and Interactions by optical biosensor technology', BBA Biomembranes, 1848 (2015) 1868-1885. doi: 10.1016/j.bbamem.2015.05.012. Sani M-A, Lee TH, Aguilar MI* and Separovic F*, ‘Proline-15 creates an amphipathic wedge in maculatin 1.1 peptides that drives lipid membrane disruption', BBA Biomembranes, 1848 (2015) 2277-2289 .doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamem.2015.06.013. Lee TH., Hall, K, and Aguilar MI, ‘Antimicrobial Peptide Structure and Mechanism of Action: A Focus on the Role of Membrane Structure', Current Topics in Med Chem, 1848 (2015) 2277-2289. Hall, K, Lee TH, Mechler A, Swann MJ and Aguilar MI, ‘Real-time Measurement of Multiple Membrane Conformational States During Antimicrobial Peptide Binding: The Balance Between Recovery and Lysis'. Scientific Reports, June 27 4:5479 (2014). DOI: 10.1038/srep05479. Lee TH, Heng C, Separovic F and Aguilar MI, ‘Comparison of Reversible Membrane Destabilisation Induced by Antimicrobial Peptides Derived from Australian Frogs', Biochim Biophys Acta (Biomembranes), 1838 (2014) 2205-15. Hirst D, Lee TH, Swann MJ, and Aguilar MI, ‘Multi-state kinetic analysis of antimicrobial peptide-membrane interactions', Anal Chem., 85 (2013) 9296-9304. Fernandez DI, Sani M-A, Lee TH, Aguilar MI* and Separovic F*, "Proline affects the membrane insertion of the antimicrobial peptide maculatin 1.1", Biophys J, 104 (2013) 1495-1507. Fernandez DI, Le Brun AP, Lee TH, Bansal P, Aguilar MI, James M and Separovic F, "Structural Effects of the Antimicrobial Peptide Maculatin 1.1 on Supported Lipid Bilayers", Eur Biophys J, 42 (2013) 47-59. Hall K, Lee TH. Daly NL, Craik DJ, Aguilar MI, "Gly6 of Kalata B1 is critical for the selective binding to phosphatidylethanolamine membranes", BBA Biomembranes, 1818 (2012) 2354-61. Sando L, Henriques ST, Foley FT, Simonsen SM, Daly NL, Hall K, Gustafson KR, Aguilar MI and Craik DJ, ‘Circular knotted proteins: a synthetic mirror image cyclotide reveals that anti-HIV activity is mediated by affinity for membranes. ChemBioChem, 12 (2011) 2456-62. *Chosen as the Cover of the Issue.