Antonio Stocco
Institut Charles Sadron, Strasbourg
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Dynamics of Passive and Active Brownian Colloids on lipid membranes
Interactions between a colloid and a lipid membrane control many important dynamics in drug delivery and microbial infection. Recently, we have focused our attention on the dynamics of passive and active Brownian colloids close to lipid membranes by tuning both particle and membrane properties, avoiding strong binding and specific interactions. Active colloids consume chemical fuels to produce self-propulsion by creating hydrodynamic flows as « pusher » or « puller » microswimmers, e.g. bacteria or algae. Chemical reactions occurring on the active side of the particle and the associated hydrodynamics represent additional interactions to be considered when active particles interact with each other or with membranes. Here, I will present some experimental results describing the dynamics of passive and active colloids interacting with giant unilamellar vesicles made of lipid bilayers. By tuning the membrane tension and the particle-membrane interaction, we were able to observe emerging dynamics such as active vesicle transport, particle orbital motion around the vesicle, and autonomous particle engulfment by the vesicle membrane.
References:
[1] V Sharma, E Azar, AP Schroder, CM Marques, A Stocco. Active colloids orbiting giant vesicles, Soft Matter 2021, 17, 4275.
[2] V Sharma, CM Marques, A Stocco. Driven Engulfment of Janus Particles by Giant Vesicles in and out of thermal equilibrium, Nanomaterials 2022, 12, 1434.
[3] F Fessler, M Wittmann, J Simmchen, A Stocco. Dynamics of Active Colloid Engulfment by Giant Lipid Vesicles, Soft Matter 2024, 20, 5904.
[4] C Marque, G D’Avino, D Larobina, A Michel, A Abou-Hassan, A Stocco. Diffusion of a single colloid on the surface of a giant vesicle and a droplet, PRE 2025, 111, 025411.
[5] F Fessler, P Muller, A Stocco. Energetics and dynamics of membrane necks in particle wrapping, Journal of Colloid and Interface Science 2025, 700, 138524.
