ABSTRACT
Vesicles are ideal model systems to investigate the physical properties of many components of cells in isolation, without the full complexity of the cellular machinery. Although vesicles are relatively simple, they are still complex many-body systems, with lipids forming a bilayer due to the hydrophobic effect, a plethora of shapes and phase transformations, families of different genus, membranes with holes, etc. Simulations therefore play a very important role in elucidating their equilibrium and dynamic properties. In this chapter we present simulation approaches ranging from the molecular scale, where the properties of lipids and membrane proteins are studied, over the supramolecular scale, where the self-assembly of lipids and their phase-behavior can be investigated, to the vesicle scale, where shapes and shape transitions, the effect of phase separation in the membrane and the internal fluid, and the deformations due to external forces and fluid flow are studied.
