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Hybrid Cell-Like Vesicular Assemblies from Bacterial Membranes and Synthetic Components

Hybrid cell-like vesicles were prepared by coassembling (glyco)dendrimersomes with bacterial membrane vesicles (BMVs) derived from E. Coli. These assemblies incorporated transmembrane proteins such as the small fusion protein MgrB tagged with a red fluorescent protein, and glycoconjugates such as lipopolysaccharides and glycoproteins from E. Coli. In future work, coassembly of (glyco)dendrimersomes with mammalian including human cell membranes will be a focus with the goal of developing new systems for biomedical application.

Broader Impact

Education: Ten summer students, undergraduates, and high school students were involved in MRSEC IRG-2 in Percec’s Lab, and contributed seven publications (2015–2017). They include Andrea D. Ramos Vicente, and Angely Berrios Camacho (Puerto Rico), Claire Murzeau, and Elodie Fiorin (France), Louise da Silva (Brazil), Xuhao Zhou (China), Samuel E. Sherman, Adam Muncan, and Cody Dazen (Penn Undergraduates), and Jack D. Rubien (High School).

International Collaborations: Prof. Hans-Joachim Gabius (Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Germany), Prof. Peter H. Seeberger (Max Planck Institute of Colloids, Germany)

Organization of Symposia: 252nd ACS National Meeting in Philadelphia:
POLY: Materials Genome Approach to Structure & Function, by Prof. Virgil Percec and Prof. Michael L. Klein