ELSI

Research & Activities

ELSI Seminar

From Vesicle toward Protocell: Perspective of Soft Matter Physics

Speaker
Masayuki Imai (Tohoku University)
Date
October 7, 2014
Time
15:15
Room

ELSI Building - 104 Communication Room

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It is a great challenge to construct protocells from molecular assemblies. A milestone of this challenge is to realize vesicle dynamics relevant to the cellular functions, such as membrane traffic and self-reproduction using simple amphiphilic molecules. The soft matter physics will play an important role to develop the vesicles having such functions. Here we show that simple binary phospholipid vesicles have a potential to reproduce such functions, adhesion, pore formation, and self-reproduction of vesicles, by coupling the lipid geometries and the phase separation. This achievement will shed light on the pathway from the molecular assembly to the cellular life.