Guided Amphiphile and Lipid Membrane Self-Assembly

Dear Colleagues,

The self-assembly of natural and synthetic amphiphiles fulfills important technical roles in many existing and emerging, not the least nanotechnological, applications. The basic framework to understand amphiphile assembly was developed decades ago. However, the sheer number of variations in amphiphile composition and applications ensures that we have only just begun to understand these processes to the level of detail at which our understanding allows us to build complex structures and functions using amphiphiles that rival those found in, e.g., biological systems.

To this Special Issue, we invite contributions that study the synthesis and assembly of amphiphile superstructures that mimic, can perform or help us understand biological functions. We will cover a selection of recent research topics and current review articles that can either be theoretical or experimental works. Examples are assembly of synthetic organelles and supported or vesicular membranes for incorporating proteins. It can also be the interaction of lipids and lipid-like surfactants with solid and liquid interfaces, from macroscopic systems to droplets and nanoparticles, that have importance for the development of tools for drug delivery or to study nanotoxicology. In particular, we welcome studies of interfacial properties and dynamic phase behavior that utilize the unique properties of amphiphiles in a controlled way, inspired by the multitude of such processes in biology.

Prof. Dr. Erik Reimhult
Guest Editor

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