DSC measurements were conducted on a PerkinElmer DSC 8000. Samples subjected to DSC measurements were limited to hydrated DMPC/C30d, hydrated DMPC, and pure C30d. Temperature sweeps were performed with heating/cooling rates of 1 and 2 • C/min, respectively. Samples were allowed to equilibrate for 5 or 10 min at the starting temperature before each run. Isothermal crystallization experiments were performed by cooling the sample from the highest temperatures to the desired crystallization temperature at 40 • C/min. Once the crystallization temperature was reached, the heat flow was monitored for a certain time (total duration ranging from 1 to 30 or 60 min). From the temperature scans, heat capacities were calculated using the pyris software (after subtracting baseline heat flows measured with empty pans), and the data was normalized to sample mass. In the mixtures, the mass of each component in the DSC sample was calculated from the amounts weighted into the mixture during preparation, assuming that no water was lost due to evaporation prior to the measurement. During the isothermal measurements, even in the absence of thermal transitions, the heat flow as a function of time only reached a constant baseline after 0.5-1 min. Therefore, such measurements were used as baselines to subtract the non-constant heat flow recorded at short times from the data. Then, relative transition enthalpies were calculated by integrating the heat flow up to different crystallization times tc, and normalizing to the total integral. This method could only be used for bulk C30d, since in the mixtures the amount of n-alkane, and therefore the heat flow related to the transition events, was very small. Instead, the total duration of the crystallization step was varied, and the respective enthalpies were determined from a consecutive heating run, similar to the method used by e.g. Alamo et al. . Using a Malvern Mi-croCal VP-DSC instrument, heating/cooling runs were acquired for an additional sample of 5 vol% C30d in DMPC, and a DMPC reference sample, prepared with increased amounts of water. The sample preparation was the same as described above, except for adding additional water until a lipid concentration of 10 mg ml was reached, and vortexing and sonicating the dispersion prior to measuring. Scan rates were 1 • C/min in both heating and cooling scans ranging from 5/20 -80 • C. Prescan equlibration times of 10 min were used. The reference cell was filled with pure de-gased water and a water/water baseline was subtracted from each sample scan.