Publication
Cholesterol-Containing Liposomes Decorated With Au Nanoparticles as Minimal Tunable Fusion Machinery
Related publications (37)
Second harmonic scattering of water in a biological context
Water is one of the most abundant molecules in the universe. It forms a hydrogen bond network with unique structure and dynamics. Hydrogen bonding is highly relevant to many biological processes including membrane formation, protein folding, adsorption, an ...
EPFL2022Ion-bridges and lipids drive aggregation of same-charge nanoparticles on lipid membranes
Francesco Stellacci, Zekiye Pelin Güven, Giulia Rossi
The control of the aggregation of biomedical nanoparticles (NP) in physiological conditions is crucial as clustering may change completely the way they interact with the biological environment. Here we show that Au nanoparticles, functionalized by an anion ...
ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY2022Water as a contrast agent for imaging interfacial structure and ion transport in giant vesicles
Hydrated lipid bilayer membranes and their asymmetry play a fundamental role in living cells by maintaining and regulating concentration gradients between cells, their environment, and their compartments. They achieve this not only through various channels ...
EPFL2022Passive and active ion permeation through lipid bilayers investigated by second harmonic water imaging
Lipid membranes are complex and dynamic systems which are known to mediate signaling processes between cells and their environment. To do this multiple ion channels and pumps are involved in controlling the in- and out-flux of various ions (K+, Na+, Mg2+, ...
EPFL2021Antiviral Screen against Canine Distemper Virus-Induced Membrane Fusion Activity
Gerardo Turcatti, Marc Chambon, Jonathan Patrice Vesin
Canine distemper virus (CDV), a close relative of the human pathogen measles virus (MeV), is an enveloped, negative sense RNA virus that belongs to the genus Morbillivirus and causes severe diseases in dogs and other carnivores. Although the vaccination i ...
2021Calcium-Mediated Liposome Fusion to Engineer Giant Lipid Vesicles with Cytosolic Proteins and Reconstituted Mammalian Proteins
Giant unilamellar lipid vesicles (GUVs) are widely used as model membrane systems and provide an excellent basis to construct artificial cells. To construct more sophisticated artificial cells, proteins-in particular membrane proteins-need to be incorporat ...
2020Calcium-triggered fusion of lipid membranes is enabled by amphiphilic nanoparticles
Francesco Stellacci, Ye Yang, Ahmet Bekdemir, Zekiye Pelin Güven
Lipid membrane fusion is an essential process for a number of critical biological functions. The overall process is thermodynamically favorable but faces multiple kinetic barriers along the way. Inspired by nature's engineered proteins such as SNAP recepto ...
NATL ACAD SCIENCES2020Soft matter probed by nonlinear scattering: self-assembly, interfaces, hydration, and long-range order
All organisms are made to a large extent of soft matter - macromolecules such as proteins and polysaccharides, or assemblies of small molecules such as lipids embedded in an aqueous environment. Understanding the role of order in soft matter presents a cha ...
EPFL2020Synthesis and Characterization of Amphiphilic Gold Nanoparticles
Francesco Stellacci, Paulo Henrique Jacob Silva, Matteo Gasbarri, Zhi Luo, Zekiye Pelin Güven, Urszula Beata Cendrowska, Samuel Thomas Jones
Gold nanoparticles covered with a mixture of 1-octanethiol (OT) and 11-mercapto-1-undecane sulfonic acid (MUS) have been extensively studied because of their interactions with cell membranes, lipid bilayers, and viruses. The hydrophilic ligands make these ...
JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS2019Characterization of Coenzyme Q Biosynthesis Proteins through Integrative Modeling at the Protein-Membrane Interface
Integral and peripheral membrane proteins account for one-third of the human proteome, and they are estimated to represent the target for over 50% of modern medicinal drugs. Despite their central role in medicine, the complex, heterogeneous and dynamic nat ...
EPFL2019