Synthesis of internally supported liposomes

The internally supported liposome is a novel nanoparticle comprising of 2 key parts, a polymer based sphere surrounded by a lipid bilayer. By using a polymeric spherical inner for the particle assembly, we can successfully support the bilayer, enabling it to be uniform in shape and help decrease the problem of high curvatures caused by internal instability, without hindering the functionality of the bilayer. Little research has been done regarding internally supported liposomes, although the implications of such a particle could be paramount to new developments in areas such as drug and gene delivery, enveloped viruses and creating synthetic biological materials. Here, we present further preliminary results of the synthesis of both the composite materials and their fully formed counterparts, as well as the characterisation of model internally supported liposomes. Our work is on producing stable composite nanoparticles which in turn will present opportunities to create new functional materials.