Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting | Ascona, Switzerland

Liposomes, Exosomes, and Virosomes: From Modeling Complex Membrane Processes to Medical Diagnostics and Drug Delivery

Poster Abstracts

32-POS Board 16 Feedback-Controlled pH-Switching Within Vesicle Nanoreactors Stephen J. Jones 1 , Paul A. Beales 1 , Annette F. Taylor 2 . 1 University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, 2 University of Sheffield, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom. Within the field of bottom-up synthetic biology, vesicular nanoreactors can be utilised in the compartmentalisation of a variety of different entities. Such entities, depending on their biological or chemical function, can be used to define these systems within a specific field of technological advancement, e.g., therapeutics, biosensing, protocell technology, etc. A significant challenge for the therapeutic application of vesicle technology is to improve the communication between a vesicle and its environment, allowing for smart, regulated release of active compounds in response to a variety of complex biological cues. The primary challenge in designing an effective and efficient drug delivery system, capable of self-mediating its own permeability and eliciting a controlled drug-release profile, is the incorporation of self- regulation. Undoubtedly, to achieve this, some form of feedback control is required. One option, which complies with the biocompatibility of these therapeutic systems, is enzymatic feedback. Towards this goal, we will demonstrate a urea-urease base-catalysed feedback-controlled pH- switch within vesicular confinement. By varying initial reaction conditions, membrane physicochemical properties, and vesicle sizes (ranging from the nano- to the microscale), we will demonstrate tuneable temporal and spatial control of the pH-switching behaviour. By understanding feedback-controlled reactions within self-assembled vesicle compartments, our long term aim is to engineer systems that can regulate a desired drug release profile, in response to changing environmental signals.

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