Biomimetic Membranes at Liquid Interfaces: A Path Toward Cell-Inspired Materials

In recent years there has been significant interest in using biological molecules, including functional proteins and peptides, for developing novel engineered materials and systems inspired by the diverse functionalities of cellular membranes in living organisms. This approach at materials development is motivated by many perspectives, including the potential use of membrane-based materials in applications such as chemical and biomolecular detection, water treatment, antibiotic design, drug delivery, etc. where selective transport with molecular-level specificity and sensitivity are required. By leveraging molecular self-assembly at liquid interfaces, we have developed droplet-based methods to assemble, characterize and encapsulate biomimetic membranes capable of hosting functional biomolecules. My talk will introduce techniques we use to construct and protect nm-thick biomimetic membranes assembled from synthetic phospholipids, natural lipid extracts, and amphiphilic block copolymers and describe methods we have developed to quantify the physical properties of these nm-thick membranes. Finally, I will also discuss a current project to develop synapse-inspired neuromorphic computing hardware with memory resistance and capacitance.