Université de Fribourg

Synthesis and biophysical characterization of an odd-numbered 1,3-diamidophospholipid

Neuhaus, Frederik ; Mueller, Dennis ; Tanasescu, Radu ; Balog, Sandor ; Takashi Ishikawa ; Brezesinski, Gerald ; Zumbuehl, Andreas

In: Langmuir, 2018, vol. 34, no. 10, p. 3215–3220

Nanomedicine suffers from low drug delivery efficiencies. Mechanoresponsive vesicles could provide an alternative way to release active compounds triggered by the basic physics of the human body. 1,3-Diamidophospholipids with C16 tails proved to be an effective building block for mechanoresponsive vesicles, but their low main phase transition temperature prevents an effective application in...

Université de Fribourg

Facile and rapid formation of giant vesicles from glass beads

Tanasescu, Radu ; Mettal, Ute ; Colom, Adai ; Roux, Aurélien ; Zumbuehl, Andreas

In: Polymers, 2018, vol. 10, no. 1, p. 54

Giant vesicles (GVs) are widely-used model systems for biological membranes. The formulation of these vesicles, however, can be problematic and artifacts, such as degraded molecules or left-over oil, may be present in the final liposomes. The rapid formulation of a high number of artifact-free vesicles of uniform size using standard laboratory equipment is, therefore, highly desirable. Here,...

Université de Fribourg

Against the rules: pressure induced transition from high to reduced order

Neuhaus, Frederik ; Mueller, Dennis ; Tanasescu, Radu ; Stefaniu, Cristina ; Zaffalon, Pierre-Léonard ; Balog, Sandor ; Ishikawa, Takashi ; Reiter, Renate ; Brezesinski, Gerald ; Zumbuehl, Andreas

In: Soft Matter, 2018, vol. 14, no. 19, p. 3978–3986

Envisioning the next generation of drug delivery nanocontainers requires more in- depth information on the fundamental physical forces at play in bilayer membranes. In order to achieve this, we combine chemical synthesis with physical–chemical analytical methods and probe the relationship between a molecular structure and its biophysical properties. With the aim of increasing the number of...

Université de Fribourg

Vesicle origami: cuboid phospholipid vesicles formed by template‐free self‐assembly

Neuhaus, Frederik ; Mueller, Dennis ; Tanasescu, Radu ; Balog, Sandor ; Ishikawa, Takashi ; Brezesinski, Gerald ; Zumbuehl,  Andreas

In: Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2017, vol. 56, no. 23, p. 6515–6518

Phospholipid liposomes are archetypical self-assembled structures. To minimize the surface tension, the vesicles typically are spherical. Deciphering the bilayer code, the basic physical interactions between phospholipids would allow these molecules to be utilized as building blocks for novel, non-spherical structures. A 1,2- diamidophospholipid is presented that self-assembles into a cuboid...

Université de Fribourg

Vesicle origami and the influence of cholesterol on lipid packing

Tanasescu, Radu ; Lanz, Martin A. ; Mueller, Dennis ; Tassler, Stephanie ; Ishikawa, Takashi ; Brezesinski, Renate Reiter∥⊥, Gerald ; Zumbuehl, Andreas

In: Langmuir, 2016, vol. 32, no. 19, p. 4896–4903

The artificial phospholipid Pad-PC-Pad was analyzed in 2D (monolayers at the air/water interface) and 3D (aqueous lipid dispersions) systems. In the gel phase, the two leaflets of a Pad-PC-Pad bilayer interdigitate completely, and the hydrophobic bilayer region has a thickness comparable to the length of a single phospholipid acyl chain. This leads to a stiff membrane with no spontaneous...

Université de Fribourg

Bilayer Properties of 1,3-Diamidophospholipids

Weinberger, Andreas ; Tanasescu, Radu ; Stefaniu, Cristina ; Fedotenko, lllya A. ; Favarger, France ; Ishikawa, Takashi ; Brezesinski, Gerald ; Marques, Carlos M. ; Zumbuehl, Andreas

In: Langmuir, 2015, vol. 31, no. 6, p. 1879–1884

A series of 1,3-diamido phosphocholines was synthesized, and their potential to form stable bilayers was investigated. Large and giant unilamellar vesicles produced from these new lipids form a wide variety of faceted liposomes. Factors such as cooling rates and the careful choice of the liposome preparation method influence the formation of facets. Interdigitation was hypothesized as a main...