Hypersonic poration of membranes: from triggered release and encapsulation to drug delivery
Yao Lu is a PhD Student in the research group Molecular Nanofabrication (MnF). Her supervisors are Professor Jurriaan Huskens from the Faculty of Science and Technology and Professor Xuexin Duan from the Tianjin University (China).
This thesis contributes to the continuing studies of biological materials, such as cells and tissues, using micro/nano-physical methods. In this work, hypersonic poration has been applied to induce reversible membrane disruption in different assembled systems, including the supported lipid bilayer (SLB), giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), polymer-shelled vesicles (PSVs), and cells. The application of this physical poration method can be directed toward two aspects: controlled release/encapsulation and triggered intracellular delivery. For carriers employed in drug delivery, like liposomes, polymersomes and micelles, the sustained release can be controlled by transient disruption of the carrier membrane, which in principle allows for tailored release profiles with excellent spatial, temporal and dosage control. On the other hand, when hypersonic poration is applied to a cell system, it can be used to control the permeability of cell membranes by inducing transient nanopores, which may enhance the process of intracellular delivery. To this end, hypersonic poration can be further developed to achieve high spatial and temporal precision, which promises to become a valuable way to delivery various cargos to diverse cells on demand.
