The aim of this project is to illustrate the great potential of a new technic, which allows to synthetize membranes similar to biological ones. Its asset is to insert various components, with a large flexibility of choices.
This cover page is visible on the journal website, with the associated article.
Explanation :
"The inside cover picture shows different types of membranes wrapped around a chemistry balloon. At the top, the membrane starts with a biological double layer of lipids with all its natural complexity (transmembrane proteins, glycocalyx, …). Then, there is a transition corresponding to a chemical effort to recreate and simplify this biological membrane in a synthetic minimal system. The new synthetic system is illustrated on the right. The lipid bilayer does not hold any protein except the synthetic substrate designed during our assays. The flexibility of our system is illustrated top right, as both sugar and fluorochrome can be interchanged to obtain the desired substrate, with plenty of possible combinations."
"The inside cover picture shows different types of membranes wrapped around a chemistry balloon. At the top, the membrane starts with a biological double layer of lipids with all its natural complexity (transmembrane proteins, glycocalyx, …). Then, there is a transition corresponding to a chemical effort to recreate and simplify this biological membrane in a synthetic minimal system. The new synthetic system is illustrated on the right. The lipid bilayer does not hold any protein except the synthetic substrate designed during our assays. The flexibility of our system is illustrated top right, as both sugar and fluorochrome can be interchanged to obtain the desired substrate, with plenty of possible combinations."
BEFORE (suggested draft, according to the research data) :
