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Supramaniam P, Wang Z, Chatzimichail S, Parperis C, Kumar A, Ho V, Ces O, Salehi-Reyhani A. Measuring Encapsulation Efficiency in Cell-Mimicking Giant Unilamellar Vesicles. ACS Synth Biol 2023; 12:1227-1238. [PMID: 36977193 PMCID: PMC10127275 DOI: 10.1021/acssynbio.2c00684] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/30/2023]
Abstract
One of the main drivers within the field of bottom-up synthetic biology is to develop artificial chemical machines, perhaps even living systems, that have programmable functionality. Numerous toolkits exist to generate giant unilamellar vesicle-based artificial cells. However, methods able to quantitatively measure their molecular constituents upon formation is an underdeveloped area. We report an artificial cell quality control (AC/QC) protocol using a microfluidic-based single-molecule approach, enabling the absolute quantification of encapsulated biomolecules. While the measured average encapsulation efficiency was 11.4 ± 6.8%, the AC/QC method allowed us to determine encapsulation efficiencies per vesicle, which varied significantly from 2.4 to 41%. We show that it is possible to achieve a desired concentration of biomolecule within each vesicle by commensurate compensation of its concentration in the seed emulsion. However, the variability in encapsulation efficiency suggests caution is necessary when using such vesicles as simplified biological models or standards.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Zibo Wang
- Department of Surgery & Cancer, Imperial College London, London W12 0HS, U.K
- Department of Chemistry, King's College London, London SE1 1DB, U.K
| | | | - Christopher Parperis
- Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, London W12 0BZ, U.K
- Department of Chemistry, King's College London, London SE1 1DB, U.K
| | - Aditi Kumar
- Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, London W12 0BZ, U.K
| | - Vanessa Ho
- Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, London W12 0BZ, U.K
| | - Oscar Ces
- Department of Chemistry, Imperial College London, London W12 0BZ, U.K
- fabriCELL, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, U.K
| | - Ali Salehi-Reyhani
- Department of Surgery & Cancer, Imperial College London, London W12 0HS, U.K
- fabriCELL, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, U.K
- Institute for Molecular Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, U.K
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Cao S, da Silva LC, Landfester K. Light‐Activated Membrane Transport in Polymeric Cell‐Mimics. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2022; 61:e202205266. [PMID: 35759257 PMCID: PMC9542181 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202205266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Shoupeng Cao
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research 55128 Mainz Germany
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Cao S, da Silva LC, Landfester K. Light‐Activated Membrane Transport in Polymeric Cell‐Mimics. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/ange.202205266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Shoupeng Cao
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research 55128 Mainz Germany
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Machtakova M, Thérien-Aubin H, Landfester K. Polymer nano-systems for the encapsulation and delivery of active biomacromolecular therapeutic agents. Chem Soc Rev 2021; 51:128-152. [PMID: 34762084 DOI: 10.1039/d1cs00686j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Biomacromolecular therapeutic agents, particularly proteins, antigens, enzymes, and nucleic acids are emerging as powerful candidates for the treatment of various diseases and the development of the recent vaccine based on mRNA highlights the enormous potential of this class of drugs for future medical applications. However, biomacromolecular therapeutic agents present an enormous delivery challenge compared to traditional small molecules due to both a high molecular weight and a sensitive structure. Hence, the translation of their inherent pharmaceutical capacity into functional therapies is often hindered by the limited performance of conventional delivery vehicles. Polymer drug delivery systems are a modular solution able to address those issues. In this review, we discuss recent developments in the design of polymer delivery systems specifically tailored to the delivery challenges of biomacromolecular therapeutic agents. In the future, only in combination with a multifaceted and highly tunable delivery system, biomacromolecular therapeutic agents will realize their promising potential for the treatment of diseases and for the future of human health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marina Machtakova
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
| | - Héloïse Thérien-Aubin
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany. .,Department of Chemistry, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada.
| | - Katharina Landfester
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
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