Lipid Service

The lipid membranes wrapping our cells swirl with chemical currents, a bit like the rainbow spirals we see on the surface of soap bubbles catching the light. The same is true for vesicles, tiny membrane pockets (10,000 times smaller than a soap bubble) which shuttle precious cargoes around inside and between our cells. The molecular makeup of a vesicle’s membrane affects its structure, flexibility, even how it reacts on contact with cells. Pictured under a high-powered microscope, these lab-created vesicles contain sphingolipids creating rigid membrane regions, seen as separate dark ‘domains’ in the swirly fluid surface, artificially stained red. Investigating different mixtures of sphingolipids may help to build vesicles to transport and release drugs inside the body, or, as suggested by another recent study, to concoct combinations which are toxic to cancer cells.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Image from work by Emilio J. González-Ramírez and Aritz B. García-Arribas, et al, Instituto Biofisika & University of the Basque Country
• in Scientific Reports, August 2020
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Cancer cell toxicity research by T. Muthusamy et al, Dept of Bioengineering, University of California San Diego in Nature, August 2020