Open AccessBlock Copolymer Giant Unilamellar Vesicles for High-Throughput Screening
Author(s) -
Lukas Heuberger,
Cornelia G. Palivan
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
chimia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.387
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 2673-2424
pISSN - 0009-4293
DOI - 10.2533/chimia.2022.350
Subject(s) - vesicle , microfluidics , template , copolymer , throughput , nanotechnology , membrane , polymer , block (permutation group theory) , materials science , chemistry , biophysics , computer science , biology , biochemistry , telecommunications , geometry , mathematics , composite material , wireless
Bottom-up synthetic cells offer the potential to study cellular processes with reduced complexity. Giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) can mimic cells in their morphological characteristics because their architecture is precisely controllable. We propose a block copolymer-based GUV system that can be used for high-throughput screening. Through droplet microfluidic methods, we produce double emulsions that then serve as templates for GUVs with adjustable inner, polymer membrane, and outer composition. Using flow cytometry, we are able to analyze tens of thousands of GUVs in a short amount of time, enabling their use for screening assays.