Membrane Fusion is a complex biological process that has been studied to explore medicinal research. Multiple avenues have been used to take advantage of this process, including drug delivery methods. Targeted delivery is the most desirable outcome yet most difficult to achieve, due to potential side reactions perturbing the system. This research focuses on the surface modification of the liposome to elucidate membrane fusion. We will be exploiting the copper-free ‘click’ reaction (2,3-dipolar Huisgen cycloaddtion reaction) to enable targeted delivery of one liposome to another. We will incorporate one liposome solution with a dibenzocycolotyne-tetraethyleneglycol-ester-lipid (ODIBO-TEG) and another with an azido-TEG lipid, and the resulting product will drive the opposing bilayers together and promote fusion. Multiple factors could be taken into account including pH level of solvent, membrane curvature, destabilizing peptides, and lipid concentration, in order to further expedite the fusion process. We plan to track this process through FRET mixing and ‘demixing’ assays and dynamic light scattering (DLS) experiments.

Artificial membrane fusion via copper-free click chemistry

251st National Meeting (2016)

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