PHYS-JB01
Electrically Conductive Liposomes for Nanoscale Sensors
Dr. Jose Bañuelos
Department of Physics
Preferred major field of study or minimum required skills
Chemistry, Physics, Chemical, Mechanical, or Biological Engineering
Scholarly significance/intellectual merit
Liposomes, which are lipid membrane-based containers, are currently used in applications ranging from the safe delivery of anticancer medicines to target sites to offering unique microenvironments for carrying out chemical reactions. Liposomes allow a molecular system, for example a nanoparticle, to be embedded in the interior of a liposome without being in direct contact with the solvent surrounding the liposome. This ability to isolate a nanoparticle which may otherwise react unfavorably with the solvent, presents an opportunity to develop nanoscale sensors, including magnetic field sensors. This project will investigate methods to incorporate a conductive polymer into a liposome structure to enable probing the internal environment of a liposome by measuring induced electrical signals due to chemical or structural modifications of the liposome. Advancements in this area open the door to the deployment of miniaturized, low power consumption sensors in liquid or biological environments.
Research question(s)
- To what degree can monodisperse liposomes be synthesized?
- How can a conductive polymer be incorporated into a liposome structure?
- What are the size limits of nanoparticles that can be placed inside a liposome and retain structural stability of the liposome?
- What is an effective method to form a robust electrical connection between PEDOT and a planar electrode surface?
Methods/techniques/instruments to be learned/utilized
Students will learn about the theory of the small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS), learn how to carry out a SAXS experiment, including sample preparation and operation of a SAXS instrument. Students will apply structural models to SAXS data. In addition, students will be exposed to dynamical light scattering, zeta potential, magnetic properties, and electrochemical characterization techniques.
