Emerging Dynamics of Janus particle Engulfment by biomimetic Membranes

EDEM is a reserach project led by A. Stocco in collaboration with Ali Abou-Hassan’s Team funded by ANR. EDEM aims at understanding and controlling particle engulfment and penetration in membranes using a biomimetic approach based on artificial self-propelling Janus particles interacting with giant unilamellar vesicles made of lipid bilayers acting as cell like compartments.

Objectives EDEM project is intended to:

• (1) engineer (using microfluidics) a new generation of multifunctional magnetic and plasmonic Janus hybrid microparticles which can be easily tracked by videomicroscopy, manipulated magnetically and are able to self-propel by light;
• (2) to study in a biomimetic approach the interaction of such particles with GUV membranes to control the particle engulfment by the membrane via the particle morphology, adhesion strength, and the membrane spontaneous curvature;
• (3) and finally characterize the interaction of these self-propelled Janus microparticles with lipid bilayer membranes. Dedicated experiments at the single particle level to achieve a fine control on particle penetration, vesicle transportation and membrane disruption will be carried out during this project.