Visualization and Quantification of Transmembrane Ion Transport into Giant Unilamellar Vesicles

Fabrication of Biomaterials and Biostructures Based On Microfluidic Manipulation

Biofabrication technologies are of importance for the construction of organ models and functional tissue replacements. Microfluidic manipulation, a promising biofabrication technique with micro-scale resolution, can not only help to realize the fabrication of specific microsized structures but also build biomimetic microenvironments for biofabricated tissues. Therefore, microfluidic manipulation has attracted attention from researchers in the manipulation of particles and cells, biochemical analysis, tissue engineering, disease diagnostics, and drug discovery. Herein, biofabrication based on microfluidic manipulation technology is reviewed. The application of microfluidic manipulation technology in the manufacturing of biomaterials and biostructures with different dimensions and the control of the microenvironment is summarized. Finally, current challenges are discussed and a prospect of microfluidic manipulation technology is given. The authors hope this review can provide an overview of microfluidic manipulation technologies used in biofabrication and thus steer the current efforts in this field.

Supramolecular Chemistry in the Biomembrane

The combination of supramolecular functional systems with biomolecular chemistry has been a fruitful exercise for decades, leading to a greater understanding of biomolecules and to a great variety of applications, for example, in drug delivery and sensing. Within these developments, the phospholipid bilayer membrane, surrounding live cells, with all its functions has also intrigued supramolecular chemists. Herein, recent efforts from the supramolecular chemistry community to mimic natural functions of lipid membranes, such as sensing, molecular recognition, membrane fusion, signal transduction, and gated transport, are reviewed.

Direct Observation of Bacterial Growth in Giant Unilamellar Vesicles: A Novel Tool for Bacterial Cultures

Bacterial cultivation techniques are classic, basic, and common processes used to characterize the physiological activity of bacteria in their environment. Owing to recent advances in bacterial cultivation techniques, the physiological activity of bacteria can be elucidated at the single-cell culture level. Here, we report a novel method to monitor the real-time activity of bacterial growth at the single-cell level inside giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs). This method consists of two steps: 1) encapsulation of single bacteria in 1-33 pL scale GUVs and 2) immobilization of the GUVs on a planar lipid bilayer membrane on a glass surface. We directly observed single E. coli cells actively growing to a great number of cells inside GUVs. GUVs also protected the bacteria from external antibiotic compounds during prolonged cultivation for more than 24 h. This approach can be applied widely in the fields of biochemistry, biotechnology, microbiology, and synthetic biology.

New Insights into the Anion Transport Selectivity and Mechanism of Tren-based Tris-(thio)ureas

The anion transport properties of a series of previously reported tren-based anionophores have been revisited using new assays designed to measure anion uniport. This study provides new insights into the transport mechanism and selectivity of this important class of transporters. Specifically, we report the chloride and nitrate transport selectivity of these systems and quantify sulfate transport to determine EC₅₀ values for sulfate transport for the first time. Two new assays were developed to study bicarbonate transport allowing accurate quantification of chloride/bicarbonate exchange.