Mass transport in biomimetic lipid membrane networks created by light

基于脂膜分隔和相互连接的多个隔室的仿生结构在合成生物学中的最小细胞、生物物理和生化研究的简化模型系统以及药物输送和微反应器技术的智能容器方面显示出巨大的潜力。因此，人们非常有兴趣开发有效的策略来构建这种可用于广泛应用的软物质体系结构，特别是在医疗保健和制药行业。更具体地说，合成软纳米管网络，由纳米管结构连接的细胞大小的液体隔间组成，已被广泛用作研究物理和生物化学过程的模型系统。这种结构与细胞桥接纳米管道非常相似，也被称为隧道纳米管，遥远的细胞可以创建这种管道来建立彼此之间的通信路线。隧道纳米管不仅可以促进生物材料在细胞间的转移，还可以通过促进传染病的传播、肿瘤细胞微环境的调节和对药物的抵抗而在病理过程中发挥重要作用。本项目旨在开发新的方法来制备和表征由纳米管结构连接的类细胞微格组成的二维和三维可调脂膜网络，并发现增强这些软物质网络内质量传输的新的物理化学机制。先进的光学显微镜技术，包括光学镊子、原子力显微镜和荧光寿命成像，将被用来创建和控制脂质网络，并表征质量传输过程。这项研究的成果可能会为活细胞和软物质系统的物理和化学基础研究开辟新的途径，并使基于人工细胞-纳米管网络的创新健康生命科学技术的发展成为可能，从而在单细胞水平上靶向输送药物和遗传物质。

Biomimetic structures, based on multiple compartments delimited and interconnected by lipid membranes, have shown a great potential as minimal cells in synthetic biology, simplified model systems for biophysical and biochemical studies and smart containers for drug delivery and microreactor technologies. There is hence a great interest in developing effective strategies for the construction of such soft-matter architectures that can be exploited for a wide range of applications, especially in healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. More specifically, synthetic soft nanotubes networks, comprising cell-sized liquid compartments connected by nanotubular structures, have been extensively used as a model system for the investigation of physical and bio-chemical processes. Such structures closely resemble the cell-bridging nanoconduits, also known as tunneling nanotubes, which distant cells can create to establish a communication route between each other. Tunneling nanotubes can facilitate the transfer of biological materials between cells, but also play an important role in pathological processes by contributing to the spread of infectious diseases, the regulation of tumour cell microenvironment and the resistance to therapies.This project aims to develop new methods for the manufacturing and characterisation of 2D and 3D lipid membrane networks of tunable morphology, made of cell-like micro-compartments connected by nanotubular structures, and to discover new physico-chemical mechanisms for the enhanced mass-transport within these soft-matter networks. Advanced optical microscopy techniques, including optical tweezers, atomic force microscopy and fluorescence-lifetime imaging, will be adopted to create and control the lipid networks and to characterise the mass transport processes. A theoretical framework will also be developed to model and predict the dynamics of flows within the lipid networks.The outcomes of this research may open up new pathways for fundamental research in the physics and chemistry of living cells and soft matter systems, and enable the development of innovative health life sciences technologies based on artificial cell-nanotube networks for the target delivery of drug and genetic material at a single-cell level.