CAREER: Vesicle Growth Driven by Catalytic Lipid Synthesis

University Of California-San Diego, La Jolla CA

Investigators

Abstract

In this project funded by the Macromolecular, Supramolecular and Nanochemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Neal Devaraj of the University of California, San Diego will study catalytic coupling reactions that can drive the self-assembly and competitive growth of phospholipid assemblies. The main research idea is that in-situ catalytic lipid synthesis within vesicles should provide a route to assemblies capable of selective growth and division. The experimental approach includes studying and developing chemistries capable of generating phospholipid in-situ, synthesizing novel catalysts that associate themselves with specific vesicles, and monitoring vesicle competition and growth phenomenon. Understanding the chemistry required for driving vesicle growth would enhance our knowledge of biomimetic assemblies and could reveal chemical mechanisms that were essential to the origin of life. The broader impacts involve developing an educational component integrating the proposed vesicle research with an existing K-20 outreach effort at UC San Diego. In particular, there will be a focus on reaching populations typically underrepresented in STEM fields. These outreach efforts will be significant in their impact on K-12 STEM education in the San Diego area, particularly with respect to exposing a broad range of students and teachers to origin of life and supramolecular chemistry topics. How sets of reactive small molecules led to the origin of life is "Grand Challenge" a problem in chemistry, and the proposed studies seek to improve our fundamental understanding of the chemical processes underlying this phenomenon. Knowledge generated from these studies also could guide efforts toward the synthesis of self-replicating materials which could lead to new types of materials with advanced properties.