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Self-assembled membranes of amphiphilic diblock copolymers enable comparisons of cohesiveness with lipid membranes over the range of hydrophobic thicknesses d=3-15 nm. At zero mechanical tension the breakdown potential V_c for polymersomes…
The bending rigidity $k_c$ of bilayer vesicles self-assembled from amphiphilic diblock copolymers has been measured using single and dual-micropipet techniques. These copolymers are nearly a factor of 5 greater in hydrophobic membrane…
Micelles and vesicles are promising candidates in targeted drug/gene delivery, bioreactors, and templates for nanoparticle synthesis. We investigated the morphology and dynamics of PEG-PDMS-PEG triblock copolymer nano-scale assemblies…
Vesicles self-assembled from amphiphilic diblock copolymers exhibit a wide diversity of behavior upon electroporation, due to competitions between edge, surface and bending energies that drive the system, while different viscous dissipation…
Polydispersity is a universal feature of synthetic polymers and biological molecules in the cytoplasm. However, its quantitative impact on collective behavior remains poorly understood because conventional metrics, such as the…
In recent experiments, small, thick-walled vesicles with a narrow size distribution were formed from copolymers where the degree of polymerisation of the hydrophobic block, N_B, was significantly greater than that of the hydrophilic block,…
The elastic property of membranes self-assembled from AB diblock and ABA triblock copolymers, as coarse-grained model of lipids and the bolalipids, are studied using the self-consistent field theory (SCFT). Specifically, solutions of the…
We use coarse-grained Monte Carlo simulations to study the elastic properties of charged membranes in solutions of monovalent and pentavalent counterions. The simulation results of the two cases reveal trends opposite to each other. The…
Understanding dynamic and complex interaction of biological membranes with extracellular matrices plays a crucial role in controlling a variety of cell behavior and functions, from cell adhesion and growth to signaling and differentiation.…
Polymer association at liquid-liquid interfaces is a promising way to spontaneously obtain soft self-healing membranes. In the case of reversible bonding between two polymers, the macromolecules are mobile everywhere within the membrane and…
We investigate the influence of a non-ionic surfactant like polymer on phospholipid vesicles. Our results from cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), small angle neutron and X-ray scattering…
Formation and rupture of vesicles is a fundamental process underlying diverse phenomena in biology, materials science, and biomedical applications. Vesicles form when the area of a growing disk-like membrane exceeds a critical value at…
For a tailored functionalization of cellulose based papers, the interaction between paper fibers and functional additives have to be understood. Planar cellulose surfaces present a suitable model system for studying the binding of…
A cell membrane can be simply regarded as composite material consisting of lipid bilayer, membrane cytoskeleton beneath lipid bilayer, and proteins embedded in lipid bilayer and linked with membrane cytoskeleton if one only concerns its…
The elastic properties of a self-assembled bilayer membrane are studied using the self-consistent field theory, applied to a model system composed of flexible amphiphilic chains dissolved in hydrophilic polymeric solvents. Examining the…
From glycosylated cell surfaces to sterically stabilized liposomes, polymers attached to membranes attract biological and therapeutic interest. Can the scaling laws of polymer "brushes" describe the physical properties of these coats? We…
Vapor pressures were measured for the system chloroform/polyethylene oxide (peo, weight average molar mass = 1000 kg/mol) at 25 degrees centigrade as a function of the weight fraction w of the polymer by means of a combination of head space…
Membrane proteins and lipids can self-assemble into membrane protein polyhedral nanoparticles (MPPNs). MPPNs have a closed spherical surface and a polyhedral protein arrangement, and may offer a new route for structure determination of…
We present Monte Carlo simulations of an ultra coarse-grained lipid bilayer with different number of lipids on both leaflets. In the simulations, we employ a new method for measuring the elastic parameters of the membrane, including the…
Polymers at the interface exhibit frustrated chain conformation distinct from the bulk, impacting particle dispersion and properties of polymer nanocomposites (PNCs). Utilizing bimodal molecular weight (MW) PNCs, we observed unusual chain…