Descrizione del progetto
Ingegneria delle vescicole dinamiche con un citoscheletro artificiale
Le vescicole sono circondate da un doppio strato lipidico e fungono da modelli artificiali delle membrane cellulari. Gli scienziati del progetto SHINEShift, finanziato dall’UE, mirano a trasformare le vescicole in strutture dinamiche capaci di rispondere a stimoli esterni e di resistere alla pressione meccanica. A questo scopo, impiegheranno la chimica sintetica per sviluppare un citoscheletro artificiale all’interno delle vescicole che consiste in tubuli a base di peptidi. Tali tubuli si formeranno e cresceranno in risposta alla luce, espandendo così le potenziali applicazioni delle vescicole ingegnerizzate. Inoltre, le metodologie generate hanno il potenziale per essere utilizzate in altri campi, come la biologia sintetica e la scienza dei materiali.
Obiettivo
The most commonly used artificial cell membrane models are vesicles. However, these static structures, consisting of a lipid bilayer surrounding a fluid, are poor in resisting mechanical stress. Enhancing their mechanical properties with a dynamic artificial cytoskeleton will both allow stabilizing their shape and transforming these passive objects into dynamic stimuli-responsive systems. In this MSCA project photo-responsive synthetic supramolecular tubules will be used as an artificial cytoskeleton inside vesicles. My aim is to develop stiff and at the same time responsive tubules based on cyclic peptide design that can grow and generate pushing forces during the fueling step, and disassemble when the fuel stops, both in a fully reversible manner. This cutting edge interdisciplinary project brings together several disciplines in chemistry, i.e. organic synthesis and supramolecular chemistry with colloidal chemistry (and/or microfluidics), and its scientific impact will spread through various fields – from supramolecular chemistry to material science (leap from static vesicles to dynamic ones), and synthetic biology (relevance for future applications in the field of artificial cells). My expertise as experienced researcher in the field of organic synthesis will be applied to the field of dynamic supramolecular systems based on photo-switchable compounds in which the host (Dr. Kudernac) has made notable recent progress. During this training-through-research project I will be able to learn the preparation processes for the vesicles and microscopy techniques that are fundamental for investigating (dynamic) supramolecular assemblies and which will further expand my horizontal skills. In addition, training activities during this fellowship will strongly enhance my leadership and transferable skills. Hence, the Fellowship will allow me to become a distinctive researcher in a highly competitive scientific environment.
Campo scientifico
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesclassical mechanicsfluid mechanicsmicrofluidics
- natural sciencesbiological sciencessynthetic biology
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsmicroscopy
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculeslipids
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuels
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinatore
7522 NB Enschede
Paesi Bassi