Fundamental studies of adhesion phenomena involving vesicles

囊泡是微米或纳米大小的颗粒，在结合膜的帮助下将有限体积的液体隔开。以水泡为基础的产品，如织物柔软剂、护肤霜、发胶，以及治疗药物，如多喜(化疗)和两性霉素(抗真菌)，加在一起构成了全球数十亿美元的业务。然而，由于这些产品的许多开发都是反复试验、以实验为重点的性质，对于哪些因素将导致更少的原材料消耗、更有效的资源利用、更低的环境影响和更好的产品功能，仍然缺乏基本的了解。该项目是朝着发展对上述关系的系统理解迈出的第一步。特别是，我们专注于一种现象，它支配着基于囊泡的产品的优化-囊泡粘连(即，囊泡粘连)。水泡粘连是乳液和治疗剂等产品发挥功能的关键步骤，另一方面，它对织物柔软剂等产品也是一种威胁，并导致这些产品中的活性物质结霜或沉淀。

Vesicles are micron or nanometer-sized particles which compartmentalize a finite volume of liquid with the help of a bounding membrane. Vesicle-based products such as fabric softeners, skin creams, hair lotions, and therapeutics such as Doxil (chemotherapeutic) and Amphotericin (antifungal) together constitute a multi-billion dollar business worldwide. However, due to the trial-and-error, experimentally-focused nature of development of many of these products, a fundamental understanding of what factors would lead to lesser raw material consumption, more efficient resource usage, lower environmental impact and better product function is still lacking. This project represents a first step towards the development of a systematic understanding of the above relationships. In particular, we focus on one phenomenon that governs optimization of vesicle-based products - vesicle adhesion (i.e. vesicle sticking). Vesicle adhesion is a crucial step in the function of products such as lotions and therapeutics; on the other hand, it is a menace for products such as fabric softeners, and leads to creaming or settling of the active material in these products.