ProjektportalSpontaneous formation of vesicles in mixtures of an amphiphilic drug and a phospholipid
Terrmin
HT23
Beskrivning
Vesicles (or liposomes) are spherical bilayer shells formed in the process of self-assembling phospholipid molecules in aqueous solvent. Intracellular vesicles are crucial in the process of transporting molecules through biological membranes (endocytosis and exocytosis) and extracellular vesicles act as transport vehicles in the extracellular matrix. Vesicles containing only phospholipids are not thermodynamically stable but requires the addition of mechanical energy to make them form. However, by means of mixing phospholipid with certain surface-active agents rather small vesicles may form spontaneously. The size of the thermodynamically stable vesicles depends on, among other things, the detailed chemical structure of both phospholipid and surfactant. In our research group, we have discovered ultra-small vesicles (diameter about 20 nm) to form in certain mixtures of an amphiphilic drug and a phospholipid.
In this project, you will investigate how the size of vesicles depends on the choice of amphiphilic drug and phospholipid and their chemical structures. Size and shape of self-assembled aggregates will be investigated with the experimental techniques static and dynamic light scattering and small-angle x-ray scattering.
Huvudområde
Farmaceutisk kemi
Ämne
Fysikalisk kemi
Typ
Laborativ studie
Företag
Uppsala universitet
Ort/Plats
Uppsala
Handledarens namn
Magnus Bergström
Handledarens e-post
magnus.bergstrom@ilk.uu.se
Institution
Institutionen för Läkemedelskemi
Program
Masterprogram i läkemedelsmodellering
Kurs
Degree Project in Pharmaceutical Modeling within Computational Medicinal Chemistry, 45 c - 3FK038
Omfattning/hp
45hp
Hur många studenter kan antagas för detta projekt?
1