Controlled Assembly of Vesicle-Based Superstructures Using Megamolecules

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Engineering
• Synthetic Biology
• Cellular Engineering

Background:

• Living tissues are complex structures formed by specialized cells.
• Artificial cells offer potential for applications in drug delivery, biosensing, and tissue regeneration.
• Programmable and site-specific adhesion is crucial for assembling artificial or hybrid tissues.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a modular, bioorthogonal conjugation method for protein attachment to lipid vesicles.
• To design synthetic adhesion proteins for controlled vesicle-to-vesicle adhesion.
• To demonstrate controlled binding between artificial and natural cells for hybrid cell aggregate formation.

Main Methods:

• Utilized covalently inhibited enzymes for bioorthogonal protein conjugation to lipid vesicles.
• Engineered synthetic adhesion proteins to mediate specific vesicle-surface interactions.
• Formed hybrid cell aggregates through controlled binding of artificial and natural cells.

Main Results:

• Established a modular toolkit for programmable, site-specific adhesion of artificial cells.
• Achieved specific adhesion between defined populations of vesicles and specific surface regions.
• Successfully created hybrid cell aggregates by combining artificial and natural cells.

Conclusions:

• The developed synthetic adhesion toolkit expands capabilities for controlling artificial cell interactions.
• Enables the hierarchical and spatially controlled assembly of prototissues and hybrid structures.
• Opens new avenues for applications in chemistry, biology, and materials science.