Scalable lipid droplet microarray fabrication, validation, and screening.

High throughput screening of small molecules and natural products is costly, requiring significant amounts of time, reagents, and operating space. Although microarrays have proven effective in the miniaturization of screening for certain biochemical assays, such as nucleic acid hybridization or antibody binding, they are not widely used for drug discovery in cell culture due to the need for cells to internalize lipophilic drug candidates. Lipid droplet microarrays are a promising solution to this problem as they are capable of delivering lipophilic drugs to cells at dosages comparable to solution delivery.

Odor Discrimination by Lipid Membranes.

Odor detection and discrimination in mammals is known to be initiated by membrane-bound G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The role that the lipid membrane may play in odor discrimination, however, is less well understood. Here, we used model membrane systems to test the hypothesis that phospholipid bilayer membranes may be capable of odor discrimination.

Enhanced cellular uptake of size-separated lipophilic silicon nanoparticles.

Specific size, shape and surface chemistry influence the biological activity of nanoparticles. In the case of lipophilic nanoparticles, which are widely used in consumer products, there is evidence that particle size and formulation influences skin permeability and that lipophilic particles smaller than 6 nm can embed in lipid bilayers. Since most nanoparticle synthetic procedures result in mixtures of different particles, post-synthetic purification promises to provide insights into nanostructure-function relationships.

Lipid multilayer microarrays for in vitro liposomal drug delivery and screening.

Screening for effects of small molecules on cells grown in culture is a well-established method for drug discovery and testing, and faster throughput at lower cost is needed. Small-molecule arrays and microfluidics are promising approaches. Here we introduce a simple method of surface-mediated delivery of drugs to cells from a microarray of phospholipid multilayers (layers thicker than a bilayer) encapsulating small molecules.