Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important bacterial pathogen in Western society, causing many deaths in hospitalized patients and those with cystic fibrosis. It is difficult to treat infections caused by this pathogen largely because antibiotics are ineffective due to low outer membrane permeability. The major non-specific porin of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, OprF, produces a large channel yet allows only a slow diffusion of various solutes. We seem to provide an explanation of this apparent paradox (E.M. Nestorovich, et al., Biophysical Journal, v. 88, No.1, Part 2 of 2, page 584a, 2005).

See also Water-Soluble Soft Polymers as Probes of Channel Functional Structure for PEGs study.