document

Engineering Synthetic Cells through Module Integration and Evolution

Restrepo Sierra, A.M. (author)

Life, the most complex and admirable machine that one could think of has evolved over billions of years to display a beautiful variety of mechanisms that keep cells adapting, self-maintaining, reproducing, and evolving. If we think about it, what is this magic? What are the mechanisms behind life’s origins and wonderful coordination? Attracted...

doctoral thesis 2024

document

Osteoimmunomodulatory GelMA/liposome coatings to promote bone regeneration of orthopedic implants

Jahanmard, F. (author), Khodaei, A. (author), Flapper, Jasper (author), Dogan, O. (author), Roohi, K. (author), Taheri, P. (author), Weinans, Harrie (author), Storm, G. (author), Croes, M. (author), Mastrobattista, E. (author), Amin Yavari, S. (author)

Despite being the most widely used biomaterials in orthopedic surgery, metallic implants do not induce new bone growth because they are bioinert. Surface biofunctionalization of implants with immunomodulatory mediators is a recent approach to promote osteogenic factors that facilitate bone regeneration. Liposomes (Lip) can be used as a low-cost,...

journal article 2023

document

Exploring Giant Unilamellar Vesicle Production for Artificial Cells – Current Challenges and Future Directions

Van de Cauter, L. (author), van Buren, L. (author), Koenderink, G.H. (author), Ganzinger, Kristina A. (author)

Creating an artificial cell from the bottom up is a long-standing challenge and, while significant progress has been made, the full realization of this goal remains elusive. Arguably, one of the biggest hurdles that researchers are facing now is the assembly of different modules of cell function inside a single container. Giant unilamellar...

review 2023

document

Imaging Flow Cytometry for High-Throughput Phenotyping of Synthetic Cells

Godino, E. (author), Restrepo Sierra, A.M. (author), Danelon, C.J.A. (author)

The reconstitution of basic cellular functions in micrometer-sized liposomes has led to a surge of interest in the construction of synthetic cells. Microscopy and flow cytometry are powerful tools for characterizing biological processes in liposomes with fluorescence readouts. However, applying each method separately leads to a compromise...

journal article 2023

document

Expression of a gene-encoded FtsZ-based minimal machinery to drive synthetic cell division

Godino, E. (author)

The Christophe Danelon lab is involved in the long-term effort to construct an autonomous minimal cell using a bottom-up approach. Our goal is to achieve self-maintenance, selfreproduction, and evolution of a liposome compartment containing a minimal genome and a cell-free gene expression system. Self-reproduction requires splitting of the...

doctoral thesis 2022

document

Genetically encoded phospholipid production for autonomous synthetic cell proliferation

Blanken, D.M. (author)

Cells, the building blocks of life, are vastly complex. This complexity confers to every living organism the ability to maintain oneself, reproduce oneself, and evolve. Creating a minimal system from nonliving components that is capable of self-maintenance, self-reproduction, and evolvability, will greatly increase our understanding of life....

doctoral thesis 2021

document

Reconstitution of Ultrawide DNA Origami Pores in Liposomes for Transmembrane Transport of Macromolecules

Fragasso, A. (author), De Franceschi, N. (author), Stömmer, Pierre (author), van der Sluis, E.O. (author), Dietz, Hendrik (author), Dekker, C. (author)

Molecular traffic across lipid membranes is a vital process in cell biology that involves specialized biological pores with a great variety of pore diameters, from fractions of a nanometer to >30 nm. Creating artificial membrane pores covering similar size and complexity will aid the understanding of transmembrane molecular transport in...

journal article 2021

document

Studying phase separation in confinement

Deshpande, Siddharth (author), Dekker, C. (author)

Cells organize their interior through membrane-bound organelles and through membraneless condensates that are formed by liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS). The complex process of coacervation that is involved in LLPS is challenging to study in living cells. Hence, studying coacervation in cell-mimicking synthetic containers can yield...

review 2021

document

Biosynthesis of protein filaments for the creation of a minimal cell

Kattan, J.M. (author)

Humanity has achieved to decipher the most fundamental mechanics of cellular life. Nevertheless, despite intense efforts there are still considerable gaps in our understanding of cellular processes. Traditionally, biologists investigate life by observation of existing lifeforms. In order to assign functions to biological components, it is common...

doctoral thesis 2020

document

pH-Controlled Coacervate-Membrane Interactions within Liposomes

Last, M.G.F. (author), Deshpande, S.R. (author), Dekker, C. (author)

Membraneless organelles formed by liquid-liquid phase separation are dynamic structures that are employed by cells to spatiotemporally regulate their interior. Indeed, complex coacervation-based phase separation is involved in a multitude of biological tasks ranging from photosynthesis to cell division to chromatin organization, and more....

journal article 2020

document

Roadmap to Building a Cell: An Evolutionary Approach

Abil, Z. (author), Danelon, C.J.A. (author)

Laboratory synthesis of an elementary biological cell from isolated components may aid in understanding of the fundamental principles of life and will provide a platform for a range of bioengineering and medical applications. In essence, building a cell consists in the integration of cellular modules into system’s level functionalities...

journal article 2020

document

An FtsZ-centric approach to divide gene-expressing liposomes

Noguera López, J. (author)

The creation of artificial cells with the minimal set of components to exhibit self-maintenance, self-reproducibility and evolvability (in other words, to be considered alive) is one of the most exciting areas within the field of synthetic biology. Such entities, here called minimal cells, are constructed by either the top-down or bottom-up...

doctoral thesis 2019

document

Synthetic biology meets liposome-based drug delivery

Soler Canton, A. (author)

Synthetic biology is an emerging and rapidly expanding field of research focused on the assembly of novel biological systems with new functionalities tailored for different applications. Genetic circuits have been re-wired or constructed with elements from different organisms, and metabolic pathways have been engineered to endow cells with non...

doctoral thesis 2019

document

Elucidating the influence of tumor presence on the polymersome circulation time in mice

de Kruijff, R.M. (author), Raavé, René (author), Kip, Annemarie (author), Molkenboer-Kuenen, Janneke (author), Roobol, Stefan J. (author), Essers, Jeroen (author), Heskamp, Sandra (author), Denkova, A.G. (author)

The use of nanoparticles as tumor-targeting agents is steadily increasing, and the influence of nanoparticle characteristics such as size and stealthiness have been established for a large number of nanocarrier systems. However, not much is known about the impact of tumor presence on nanocarrier circulation times. This paper reports on the...

journal article 2019

document

Shape and Size Control of Artificial Cells for Bottom-Up Biology

Fanalista, F. (author), Birnie, A.T.F. (author), Maan, R. (author), Burla, Federica (author), Charles usagé Charles-Carty, K.V. (author), Pawlik, G. (author), Deshpande, S.R. (author), Koenderink, Gijsje H. (author), Dogterom, A.M. (author), Dekker, C. (author)

Bottom-up biology is an expanding research field that aims to understand the mechanisms underlying biological processes via in vitro assembly of their essential components in synthetic cells. As encapsulation and controlled manipulation of these elements is a crucial step in the recreation of such cell-like objects, microfluidics is...

journal article 2019

document

An Integrated Microfluidic Platform for Quantifying Drug Permeation across Biomimetic Vesicle Membranes

Schaich, Michael (author), Cama, Jehangir (author), Al Nahas, Kareem (author), Sobota, Diana (author), Sleath, Hannah (author), Jahnke, Kevin (author), Deshpande, S.R. (author), Dekker, C. (author), Keyser, Ulrich F. (author)

The low membrane permeability of candidate drug molecules is a major challenge in drug development, and insufficient permeability is one reason for the failure of antibiotic treatment against bacteria. Quantifying drug transport across specific pathways in living systems is challenging because one typically lacks knowledge of the exact...

journal article 2019

document

Membrane Tension–Mediated Growth of Liposomes

Deshpande, S.R. (author), Wunnava Venkata, S.S. (author), Hueting, D.A. (author), Dekker, C. (author)

Recent years have seen a tremendous interest in the bottom-up reconstitution of minimal biomolecular systems, with the ultimate aim of creating an autonomous synthetic cell. One of the universal features of living systems is cell growth, where the cell membrane expands through the incorporation of newly synthesized lipid molecules. Here, the...

journal article 2019

document

Mechanical Division of Cell-Sized Liposomes

Deshpande, S.R. (author), Spoelstra, W.K. (author), van Doorn, M.C. (author), Kerssemakers, J.W.J. (author), Dekker, C. (author)

Liposomes, self-assembled vesicles with a lipid-bilayer boundary similar to cell membranes, are extensively used in both fundamental and applied sciences. Manipulation of their physical properties, such as growth and division, may significantly expand their use as model systems in cellular and synthetic biology. Several approaches have been...

journal article 2018

document

Virus-inspired dna replication coupled with gene expression in a minimal cell framework

van Nies, P.Y.B. (author)

doctoral thesis 2017

document

Development of nano-encapsulation systems for the food antifungal natamycin: Formulation, characterization and post-processing

Bouaoud, C. (author)

Food spoilage has become in the last decades one of the biggest challenges faced by the food industry, with a significant amount of products thrown away at every step of the supply chain. Microbial contamination is listed as one of the major causes of food spoilage and can be at a large extent prevented by application of antimicrobial compounds....

doctoral thesis 2016