Analysis was conducted using Python VMD scripts built for the system with the library numpy for efficient numerics and matplotlib for plotting. measure the number of times protein residues approached the membrane within a certain cutoff distance. Depending on the cutoff distance selected, contact counts can change significantly. For our analyses, we use a weighted contact definition that allows for fractional contacts at distances near the selected cutoff. The exponentially weighted native contact definition from Shienerman and Brooks has been used in prior studies to assess membrane-protein contacts. We define contact (C) as: