[SMaLS] Structural Characterization of Disc Micelles and Combined Properties in Lipid-Infused Hydrogels

[SMaLS seminar ] Omotayo Gbadamosi, (Pitenis Visitor PhD)

Title: Structural Characterization of Disc Micelles and Combined Properties in Lipid-Infused Hydrogels

Abstract: Model membranes serve a key role in membrane biochemistry, providing foundational information on biological membrane behaviours and application in biomedical or biochemical fields. Synthetic phospholipids in particular allow for such investigations where the composition, concentration, size, and morphology can be finely tuned to achieve desired traits. Namely, the size and morphology of phospholipid self-assemblies are of great interest as these structural traits govern the efficacy of phospholipid systems to serve as delivery agents. In addition to commonly seen morphologies of spherical liposomes or spherical micelles, disc micelles are a unique self- assembly typically composed of short- and long-chain phosphatidylcholine phospholipids. Disc-like systems are of interest as they can achieve very small diameters (< 100 nm) and have favourable thickness for intercellular permeation, introducing new avenues for membrane protein studies and biomedical applications.

This work discusses structural investigation of disc micelle self-assemblies with phosphatidylethanolamine phospholipids of similar acyl chain length and begins to explore its applicability in hydrogel systems. In-depth structure elucidation was conducted with small angle X-ray scattering across a range of compositions, concentrations, and temperatures. From this, an optimized composition and concentration was selected to infuse into polyacrylamide hydrogels with initial investigations into the combined structural and mechanical properties.