About the project
The project aims to implement lipid translocases to flip lipids from the inner to the outer leaflet or flop lipids from the outer to inner leaflet, depending on the topology of the lipid biosynthesis pathway. The building blocks and ATP required for lipid synthesis will be produced in DC6. We will combine active membrane expansion with the intra-vesicle expression of synthetic RNA condensates to engineering complex re-structuring events such as engulfment, exocytosis, membrane rupture and/or fission.
The project will include secondments at UC, UK (Di Michele group, www.DiMicheleLab.org; Condensate formation and soft matter) and HHU in Dusseldorf, FRG (Exterkate group, www.membiolip.hhu.de; Lipid biosynthesis and LC-MS).
Selected References
- Bailoni E & Poolman B (2022) ATP recycling fuels sustainable glycerol 3‑phosphate formation in synthetic cells fed by dynamic dialysis. ACS Synth Biol 11:2348-2360. doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.2c00075
- Bailoni E, Patino0Ruiz MF, Stan AR, Schuurman-Wolters GK, Exterkate M, Driessen AJM & Poolman B (2024) Synthetic vesicles for sustainable energy recycling and delivery of building blocks for lipid biosynthesis. ACS Synth Biol 13: 1549. doi: 10.1021/acssynbio.4c00073.
- Coenradij J, Bailoni E & Poolman B (2024) Construction of out-of-equilibrium metabolic networks in nano- and micrometer-sized vesicles. J. Vis Exp doi: 10.3791/66627.
Doctoral Candidate: Debosmita Bhowmick
Debosmita holds an Integrated BS-MS degree in Natural Sciences from IISER Kolkata, India, with a major in Chemical Sciences. For her Master’s thesis, she drew inspiration from the survival strategy of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to develop a broad-spectrum antiviral using lipo-peptides inspired by the Coronin-1 protein, which inhibits membrane fusion. It was during this research that her interest in artificial cells and their wide-ranging applications began to take shape.
Hosted by:
Bert Poolman
University of Groningen, The Netherlands, Department of Biochemistry
www.membraneenzymology.com,
wikipedia.org/wiki/Bert_Poolman
