Talks by the Examination Committee members associated with the PhD defence of Christian Rein Hansen

Orientational texture in membrane domains

Adam Cohen Simonsen,

MEMPHYS/IFK, University of Southern Denmark, Odense

Lipid bilayers are formed by self assembly and constitute the structural backbone of complex biomembranes. The lipid composition of biomembranes is a key factor for regulating biological function through modulation of a wide range of physical membrane properties. An example is the formation of lipid domains and laterally differentiated regions in the plane of the membrane. The use of simplified model membranes provides a controlled way of studying membrane phases and domain structures. Recently it has become clear that membrane gel domains can contain an intricate substructure related to the in-plane orientation of tilted lipids. This phenomenon is well known from liquid crystals and Langmuir monolayers, and is referred to as texture. I will briefly describe our ongoing efforts to characterize membrane textures and texture defects.

Cubic phase liquid crystalline phase nanoparticles at their interaction with biomimetic surfaces of relevance for drug delivery

Tommy Nylander

Physical Chemistry, Lund University, Sweden

Lipids and lipid self assembly structures are important as regulators for biological activity that can be exploited for the design of drug delivery vehicles. The biological membrane is one of the most important interfaces that drug delivery vehicles encounter. One potential drug delivery system is a dispersion of a lipid based, cubic liquid crystalline phase. We will discuss some aspects of what happens when such a liquid crystalline lipid nanoparticle encounters a lipid bilayer as well as other types of surfaces, the impact of the structure of the liquid crystalline particle and how such knowledge can contribute to our understanding on the interaction mechanism of such drug delivery vehicles.