Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting

Liposomes, Exosomes, and Virosomes: From Modeling Complex

Membrane Processes to Medical Diagnostics and Drug Delivery

Poster Abstracts

1-POS

Board 1

Construction f A Multi-Stage Micro-Reactor In A Droplet Interface Bilayer System

Maxwell Allen-Benton

King's College London, London, London, United Kingdom.

Droplet interface bilayers (DIBs) are a stable, convenient and flexible platform for the formation

of artificial lipid bilayers. Formed from the contact of two lipid monolayer encapsulated aqueous

droplets in a surrounding oil phase, they are compatible with trans-membrane protein insertion

and support the formation of asymmetric bilayers. As well as being a promising platform for

studying membrane biophysics and membrane transport proteins, droplet interface bilayers are

finding uses in synthetic biology. The stability of DIBs allows large networks of bilayer-

connected droplets to be constructed, with the incorporation of proteins pores facilitating

controlled movement of substances throughout the aqueous phase of the network.

I aim to use the droplet interface bilayer system to construct a multi-chambered, enzymatically

driven micro-reactor. The aqueous interiors of the droplets will serve as the chambers of the

reactor, with porins and membrane transport proteins facilitating the movement of reactants and

products across the lipid bilayers that separate the chambers. The efficacy of the system will be

assessed using fluorometric and colorimetric indicators. As such, a spatially separated enzymatic

cascade reaction will be created in a synthetic system.