Establishing programmable liposome fusion to enable synthetic cell growth (BEP/MEP)

Short description:
To accomplish sustained growth and division, synthetic cells must expand their membrane surface. Providing extra lipids from the outside is a necessity to supply additional membrane area. We are developing a membrane fusion protocol based on complementary DNA strands with a cholesterol tag to induce binding and fusion between GUVs and LUVs. To characterize this process, we use fluorescence imaging (confocal laser scanning, FRET, FLIM) and quantitative image analysis. The project will focus on the development of a content mixing and a leakage assay to further assess vesicle fusion. Further, we plan to integrate this fusion system into a microfluidic device to improve our control over the experimental parameters.

Techniques/methods applied in the project:
Confocal fluorescence microscopy, FRET, FLIM, image analysis, microfluidics

Relevant publication for the project:
Lira, R. B., Robinson, T., Dimova, R., & Riske, K. A. (2019). Highly Efficient Protein-free Membrane Fusion: A Giant Vesicle Study. Biophysical journal, 116(1), 79–91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2018.11.3128

Contact
Bert Van Herck (B.VanHerck@tudelft.nl) and Prof. Dr. Gijsje Koenderink (G.H.Koenderink@tudelft.nl)