Bio-inspired soft matter at the service of interactive biointerfaces and synthetic cells

César Rodriguez-Emmenegger
¹Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Barcelona, Spain, ²Institució Catalana de 
Reserca I Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain; and DWI Leibniz Institute for
Interactive Materials, Aachen, Germany
Email: crodriguez(ELIMINAR)@ibecbarcelona.eu

Nature  achieves  unmatched  functionality by the  s elf-as s embly of  (macro)molecula r  building 
blocks  in  a  hiera rchica l manner. All information  necess ary for the  function  is  encoded  
at  the molecula r level. Unraveling  such  blueprints  serves  as  a  powerful paradigm  in  the  
bio-ins pired s ynthes is  of materia ls  that can seam les s ly interfa ce  with living matter or 
perform  non-natural functions . In this  talk, I will pres ent a s election of res earch s tudies  
from my la b addres s ing the overarching  task  of  developing  bio-ins pired  intera ctive  
materia ls  and  their  applica tion  in  the biom edica l field. Three themes  will be cons 
idered. Firs tly, I will pres ent hydrophilic arbores cent polymers ,  a  new  class  of  quas 
i-dendritic  macromolecules  in  which  the  topology  codes  for extreme  flexibility  and  
enables  a  myria d  of  multiva lent  intera ctions .  Secondly, I will  present highlights  of 
the antim icrobia l Kill&Repel and Adaptive hemocompatible nanocoatings  and our efforts  in  trans 
la ting  them  to  medica l  devices .  The  las t  part  of  the  talk  will  focus  on  the de ve 
lopm ent of Membrane  Machines , tailor-made  s ynthetic  ves icles  capable  of recapitula ting s 
ome  fundamental biologica l properties  and performing specific  tas ks . We  take  advantage  of 
thes e  s ys tems  to  s tudy how biological s e lectivity can emerge  from  the  la teral 
organization of liga nd  in s tatic  and  dynam ic  sys tems  such as  the  bacteria l divis ome. 
We  are  als o  developing s ynthetic  macrophage-mimetic  microrobots  capable  of  endocytos ing  
bacteria  and  viruses, including SARS-CoV-2.

Research lines of Bioinspired Interactive Materials and Protocellular Systems group.

Google scholar: ‪César Rodriguez-Emmenegger - ‪Google Académico