(i.e.- its intrinsic curvature). Intrinsic curvature is defined by the ratio of the diameter of the head group to that of the tail group. For two-tailed PC lipids, this ratio is nearly one so the intrinsic curvature is nearly zero. Other headgroups such as PS and PE are smaller and the resulting diacyl (two-tailed) lipids thus have a negative intrinsic curvature. Lysolipids tend to have positive spontaneous curvature because they have one rather than two alkyl chains in the tail region. If a particular lipid has too large a deviation from zero intrinsic curvature it will not form a bilayer. Edge energy Edge energy is the energy per unit length of a free edge contacting water. This can be thought of as the work needed to create a hole in the bilayer of unit length L. The origin of this energy is the fact that creating such an interface exposes some of the lipid tails to water, which is unfavorable. is also an important parameter in biological phenomena as it regulates the self-healing properties of the bilayer following electroporation or mechanical perforation of the cell membrane. Unfortunately, this property is both difficult to measure experimentally and to calculate. One of the major difficulties in calculation is that the structural properties of this edge are not known. The simplest model would be no change in bilayer orientation, such that the full length of the tail is exposed. This is a high energy conformation and, to stabilize this edge, it is likely that some of the lipids rearrange their head groups to point out in a curved boundary. The extent to which this occurs is currently unknown and there is some evidence that both hydrophobic (tails straight) and hydrophilic (heads curved around) pores can coexist. Finite element modeling FE Modeling is a powerful tool for testing the mechanical deformation and equilibrium configuration of lipid membranes. In this context membranes are treated under the thin-shell theory where the bending behavior of the membrane is described by the Helfrich bending model which considers the bilayer as being a very thin object and interprets it as a two-dimensional surface. This consideration imply that Kirchhoff-Love plate theory can be applied to lipid bilayers to determine their stress-deformation behavior. Furthermore, in the FE approach a bilayer surface is subdivided into discrete elements, each described by the above 2D mechanics. Under these considerations the weak form virtual work