Abstract

This talk will outline novel microfluidic strategies for biomembrane engineering that are capable of fabricating vesicles, multisomes and artificial /cells tissues on demand. These platforms are being used to construct complex multi-compartment artificial cells where the contents and connectivity of each compartment can be controlled. These compartments are separated by biological functional membranes that can facilitate transport between the compartments themselves and between the compartments and external environment. These technologies have enabled us to engineer multi-step enzymatic signalling cascades into the cells leading to in-situ chemical synthesis and systems that are capable of sensing and responding to their environment. The talk will also highlight recent work in our group in the field of cellular bionics where we are manufacturing artificial cell-real cell hybrid systems where the combined ensemble performs user defined functions. Alongside this, the talk will outline the development of novel droplet based artificial tissues that can be used to generate display materials based on biological components.

Biography

Prof Oscar Ces (Imperial College London) is currently Director of the Institute of Chemical Biology (ICB), the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Chemical Biology, the Leverhulme Doctoral Training Centre for Cellular Bionics, Co-Director of fabriCELL (pan-London Institute focussing on development of novel technologies for artificial cell construction), Co-Director of the Membrane Biophysics Platform (MBP) and co-director of the Imperial College Advanced Hackspace, a member of the steering committees for Agri-net, the Nutrition Food Network and the AgriFutures Lab at Imperial College London. He is a leading specialist in biomembrane engineering, drug-membrane interactions, biomimicry, soft condensed matter, chemical biology, microfluidics, artificial cells, single cell analysis and lipid membrane mechanics, co-authoring > 100 papers in these fields. Since 2006 he has raised over £35M in research funding with over £10M in current funding. Much of this portfolio underpins active collaborations with industry (AstraZeneca plc, GSK plc, P&G plc, Syngenta plc). Abstract: This talk will outline novel microfluidic strategies for biomembrane engineering that are capable of fabricating vesicles, multisomes and artificial /cells tissues on demand. These platforms are being used to construct complex multi-compartment artificial cells where the contents and connectivity of each compartment can be controlled. These compartments are separated by biological functional membranes that can facilitate transport between the compartments themselves and between the compartments and external environment. These technologies have enabled us to engineer multi-step enzymatic signalling cascades into the cells leading to in-situ chemical synthesis and systems that are capable of sensing and responding to their environment. The talk will also highlight recent work in our group in the field of cellular bionics where we are manufacturing artificial cell-real cell hybrid systems where the combined ensemble performs user defined functions. Alongside this, the talk will outline the development of novel droplet based artificial tissues that can be used to generate display materials based on biological components.