Laboratory for Biomembrane Engineering
Bridging synthetic biology and biomaterials to generate new tools to understand, sense, and regulate cellular behavior
Sensing
How do cells sense chemical and physical changes in their environment? We are reconstituting membrane proteins inside synthetic membranes to better understand this process and design new biosensing materials.
Membrane Dynamics
The bilayer membrane has unique material properties unlike any other typical material (ex. hydrogels, colloids, metals, etc.): it can stretch, bend, phase segregate, grow, fuse, and divide. We are investigating how to harness these behaviors to design new types of complex material systems.
Membrane Protein Folding
The proper folding of a membrane protein into the membrane is critical for its function. We are studying how properties of membranes influence membrane protein folding as proteins are synthesized.
Signal Transduction
Cells move information across their membranes to respond to environmental signals or to communicate with other cells, all without allowing molecules to physically move across the membrane . We are recapitulating this process using different types of membrane proteins.
Transport
Cells move cargo across their membranes to signal to other cells or secrete useful products. We are uncovering how to use transport proteins in synthetic vesicles to move physical cargo that is produced or held inside vesicles out to the external environment.
Cell-Material Interactions
We are designing artificial cells that can communicate with and regulate cellular behaviors.
art by Maggie Boyd
art by Maggie Boyd
Inspired by Cells
Biological cells perform a wide variety of complex tasks including sensing, communication, manufacturing, and movement. The cell membrane, which provides a physical boundary that separates the inside of the cell from the outside of the cell, plays a critical role in these processes. Inspired by the capabilities of this organelle, we reconstruct bilayer membranes in the laboratory and use them as (1) a material platform to build cell-like structures as well as (2) a model system to recreate and better understand cellular behaviors that involve the membrane.
The structures we build are based on bilayer membranes
which provide a platform to assemble amphiphiles, peptides, proteins, and polymers, and mimic the structure of biological membranes.
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Happenings
our latest News
Congratulations to Tim Vu who was selected as a finalist in the 2023 International Institute
By cracking open a cellular membrane, Northwestern University synthetic biologists have discovered a new way
Northwestern’s Center for Synthetic Biology (CSB) is one of the global hubs for innovation in its field.
