We thank the following individuals:

The SMALP community of researchers for their interest and encouragement.

The funders including the Campus Alberta Innovates Program (CAIP), National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Royal Society, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Technology Transfer Fund, which was supported by the European Commission, and for their support.

For people sharing photographs through the creative commons including:

• fly and butterfly: Dawn Huczek
• frogs: Anita Ritenour and Jerry Kirkhart
• pen: Loni Townsend
• trees: Ms Megan
• Styrene Maleic Anhydride: Edgar181
• structures of proteins and nanodiscs: authors of the cited papers and RCSB PDB