Scope/Objectives

Introduction

Contents

  1. 1 Introduction
  2. 2 Objectives
  3. 3 Conference topics
    1. 3.1 Phospholipid bilayer theory and computer modelling
    2. 3.2 Synthetic polymers for cross-membrane delivery
    3. 3.3 Supported lipid bilayers and Langmuir monolayers
    4. 3.4 Bioinspired Polymers, Bioengineering and Biotechnology
    5. 3.5 Lipid vesicles
    6. 3.6 Phase separated bilayer domains
    7. 3.7 Drug delivery systems
    8. 3.8 Nanotoxicology and cancer therapy
    9. 3.9 Biostabilisation and cell preservation
    10. 3.10 Regenerative medicine
    11. 3.11 SoftMat research groups:  ITN SNAL Project:

Many proteins, synthetic polymers and nanoparticles have been reported to interact with cells and understanding and controlling their interactions with phospholipid membranes is therefore a key to the design of novel medical treatments and cell-active substances.

Being of nanoscopic thickness fluid membranes constantly fluctuate and reorganize; they can adsorb substances on their surface, absorb them in their interior, hydrophobic core region or, translocate them from one side to the other. Whilst all these processes impact the stability and properties of the membrane, they are attractive to the delivery of substance to the interior of a living cell. However, in many interesting cases these substances are not simple molecules but proteins, polymer chains or artificial objects such as nano-particles or nano-tubes. Thus, precise control of the interaction between model cell membranes and natural and synthetic nano-objects is critically important to technological advances in fields such as biomedical engineering, biosensor development, drug delivery and nanomedicine, personal products and cosmetics.

Objectives

The purpose of this workshop is to bring together scientists from different backgrounds (physics, physical and organic chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, engineering, medicine and industry) interested in different aspects of interactions of biomaterials with biological and model membranes. In particular the discussion will be focused on multidisciplinary approaches to this complex problem. Topics will range from computer simulations of self-assembled phospholipid membranes to synthesis of membrane active materials and experimental validation and clinical tests.

With this workshop we aim to cover the following topics:

Conference topics

  • Phospholipid bilayer theory and computer modelling

  • Synthetic polymers for cross-membrane delivery

  • Supported lipid bilayers and Langmuir monolayers

  • Bioinspired Polymers, Bioengineering and Biotechnology

  • Lipid vesicles

  • Phase separated bilayer domains

  • Drug delivery systems

  • Nanotoxicology and cancer therapy

  • Biostabilisation and cell preservation

  • Regenerative medicine

SoftMat research groups:

SoftMat net		  ITN SNAL Project:

ITN SNAL project