GIANT UNILAMELLAR VESICLES FOR PEPTIDE-MEMBRANE INTERACTION STUDIES USING FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY

Sammanfattning: Vesicles are a type of biological or biomimetic particle consisting of one or more often spherical bilayers made up of amphipathic molecules, creating a closed system. They can function as an encapsulating device, holding hydrophilic molecules on the inside of the bilayer membrane(s) or hydrophobic molecules in the non-polar interstitial space in the middle of the bilayers. Because of this capacity to carry molecules, vesicles are a premier system for drug delivery and even theranostics in vivo. A peptide-based approach to release of encapsulated molecules has previously been developed but since drug delivery vesicles are in the size range of nanometers, the mechanisms have not been visualized. This project aims to produce giant unilamellar vesicles as a model system used to visualize membrane interactions vital to the understanding and further development of smaller vesicle-based systems for drug delivery. Giant unilamellar vesicles were produced successfully and a preparation protocol was established. Additionally, some membrane interactions were investigated using fluorescence microscopy.