PNAS 118 (31), e2104610118 (2021)
Jean-Baptiste Fleury, Vladimir A. Baulin

Estimated millions of tons of plastic are dumped annually into oceans. Plastic has been produced only for 70 y, but the exponential rise of mass production leads to its widespread proliferation in all environments. As a consequence of their large abundance globally, microplastics are also found in […]

Adv. Mat. 32 (52), 2005679 (2020)
Denver P. Linklater, Vladimir A. Baulin, Xavier Le Guével, Jean‐Baptiste Fleury, Eric Hanssen, The Hong Phong Nguyen, Saulius Juodkazis, Gary Bryant, Russell J. Crawford, Paul Stoodley, Elena P. Ivanova

It is commonly accepted that nanoparticles (NPs) can kill bacteria; however, the mechanism of antimicrobial action remains obscure for large NPs that […]

Phys. Rev. Lett. 124(3), 038001 (2020)
Yachong Guo, Marco Werner, Jean Baptiste Fleury and Vladimir A. Baulin

Cholesterol is a crucial component of mammalian cell membranes that takes part in many vital processes. It is generally accepted that cholesterol stabilizes the membrane and induces transitions into ordered states. In contrast to expectations, we demonstrate that cholesterol can […]

Scientific Reports, 9, 4694 (2019)
Berardo M. Manzi, Marco Werner, Elena P. Ivanova, Russell J. Crawford and Vladimir A. Baulin
Recent technological advances have allowed the development of a new generation of nanostructured materials, such as those displaying both mechano-bactericidal activity and substrata that favor the growth of mammalian cells. Nanomaterials that come into contact with biological […]

Langmuir, January (2019)
S. Cheeseman, Vi Khanh Truong, V. Walter, F. Thalmann, C. M. Marques, Eric Hanssen, J. Vongsvivut, M. Tobin, V. A. Baulin, S. Juodkazis, S. MacLaughlin, G. Bryant, R. J. Crawford, E. P. Ivanova
The waxy epicuticle of dragonfly wings contains a unique nanostructured pattern that exhibits bactericidal properties. In light of emerging concerns of […]

Nanoscale, December (2018)
André Dias, Marco Werner, Kevin Ward, Jean-Baptiste Fleury, Vladimir A. Baulin
Blood circulation is the main distribution route for systemic delivery and the possibility to manipulate red blood cells by attaching nanoparticles to their surface provides a great opportunity for cargo delivery into tissues. Nanocarriers attached to red blood cells can be delivered to […]

ACS Nano, November (2018)
Yachong Guo, Marco Werner, Ralf Seemann, Vladimir A Baulin, and Jean-Baptiste Fleury
Increasing awareness of bioeffects and toxicity of nanomaterials interacting with cells puts in focus the mechanisms by which nanomaterials can cross lipid membranes. Apart from well-discussed energy-dependent endocytosis for large objects and passive diffusion through membranes by solute molecules, there can […]

Soft Matter, , (2018)
Monika Kluzek, Marc Schmutz, Carlos M. Marques and Fabrice Thalmann
Cyclodextrins are cyclic oligosaccharides capable of forming inclusion complexes with a variety of molecules, and as such have been recognized as a pharmaceutical and biotechnological asset. Cyclodextrins are known to interact with the components of cell membranes, and this correlates with a significant […]

J. Chem. Phys., 149, 014902 (2018)
Adrien Berthault, Marco Werner, Vladimir A. Baulin
The Single Chain Mean Field theory is used to link coarse-grained models of amphiphilic molecules with analytical models for membrane elasticity, where phenomenological parameters are deduced from explicit molecular models and force fields. We estimate the elastic constants based on the free energy of […]

ACS Nano, 114(9), 2165–2173 (2018)
Denver P. Linklater, Michael De Volder, Vladimir A Baulin, Marco Werner, Sarah Jessl, Mehdi Golozar, Laura Maggini, Sergey Rubanov, Eric Hanssen, Saulius Juodkazis, Elena P. Ivanova
The properties of lipid bilayers in sucrose solutions have been intensely scrutinized over recent decades because of the importance of sugars in the field of biopreservation. […]

Scientific Reports, 8, 8413 (2018)
Susan Stuhr, Vi Khanh Truong, Jitraporn Vongsvivut, Tobias Senkbeil, Yang Yang, Mohammad Al Kobaisi, Vladimir A. Baulin, Marco Werner, Sergey Rubanov, Mark J. Tobin, Peter Cloetens, Axel Rosenhahn, Robert N. Lamb, Pere Luque, Richard Marchant, Elena P. Ivanova
Insects represent the majority of known animal species and exploit a variety of fascinating […]

Adv Mater Sci, DOI: 10.15761/AMS.1000131 (2017)
Alexander Chen, Sergio A Mercado, Nigel KH Slater
The design and synthesis of a dual-function, cell permeating polymer with an antioxidative property is described and its use for the intracellular delivery of the cryoprotectant trehalose into HeLa cells is demonstrated. The polymer, PVitE-25, was created by grafting the water insoluble hydrophobic […]

Biophysical J, 114(9), 2165–2173 (2018)
Mattia I. Morandi, Mathieu Sommer, Monika Kluzek, Fabrice Thalmann, André P. Schroder, Carlos M. Marques
The properties of lipid bilayers in sucrose solutions have been intensely scrutinized over recent decades because of the importance of sugars in the field of biopreservation. However, a consensus has not yet been formed on the mechanisms […]

Interface Focus, 8, 20170060, (2018)
Denver P. Linklater, Vladimir A. Baulin, Saulius Juodkazis and Elena P. Ivanova
Growing interest in the bactericidal effect of graphene and graphene-derived nanomaterials has led to the investigation and effective publication of the bactericidal effects of the substratum, many of which present highly conflicting material. The nature of bacterial cell death on graphene […]

J. Synchrotron Rad. 25, 874-877 (2018)
Vi Khanh Truong, Jitraporn Vongsvivut, Nipuni Mahanamanam Geeganagamage, Mark J. Tobin, Pere Luque, Vladimir A. Baulin, Marco Werner, Shane Maclaughlin, Russell J. Crawford and Elena P. Ivanova
Damselflies Calopteryx haemorrhoidalis exhibiting black wings are found in the western Mediterranean, Algeria, France, Italy, Spain and Monaco. Wing pigmentation is caused by the presence of melanin, which is involved […]

Materials 2018, 11(4), 605 (2018); https://doi.org/10.3390/ma11040605
Jason V. Wandiyanto, Denver Linklater, Pallale G. Tharushi Perera, Anna Orlowska, Vi Khanh Truong, Helmut Thissen, Shahram Ghanaati, Vladimir A. Baulin, Russell J. Crawford, Saulius Juodkazis and Elena P. Ivanova
Titanium is a biocompatible material that is frequently used for making implantable medical devices. Nanoengineering of the surface is the common method for increasing material […]

Biointerphases 13, 028501 (2018); https://doi.org/10.1116/1.5022145
M. Werner, T. Auth, P. A. Beales, J. B. Fleury, F. Höök, H. Kress, R. C. Van Lehn, M. Müller, E. P. Petrov, L. Sarkisov, J.-U. Sommer and V. A. Baulin
Synthetic polymers, nanoparticles, and carbon-based materials have great potential in applications including drug delivery, gene transfection, in vitro and in vivo imaging, and […]

Soft matter, 2018, DOI: 10.1039/C7SM02404E,
Ankush Checkervarty, Marco Werner, and Jens Uwe Sommer
We study pore formation in models of lipid-bilayer membranes interacting with amphiphilic copolymers mimicking anti-microbial peptides using Monte Carlo simulations and we rationalize our results by a simple brush-model for the fluid membrane. In our study a weak tension on the membrane is required […]

Soft matter, 2018, DOI: 10.1039/C7SM02404E, Ankush Checkervarty, Marco Werner, and Jens Uwe Sommer. We study pore formation in models of lipid-bilayer membranes interacting with amphiphilic copolymers mimicking anti-microbial peptides using Monte Carlo simulations and we rationalize our results by a simple brush-model for the fluid membrane. In our study a weak tension on the membrane […]

Nano-Micro Lett., 10, 36 (2018)
Chris M. Bhadra, Marco Werner, Vladimir A. Baulin, Vi Khanh Truong, Mohammad Al Kobaisi, Song Ha Nguyen, Armandas Balcytis, Saulius Juodkazis, James Y. Wang, David E. Mainwaring, Russell J. Crawford, Elena P. Ivanova
One of the major challenges faced by the biomedical industry is the development of robust synthetic surfaces that can resist […]

Soft Matter, 13, 7571-7577 (2017)
Monika Kluzek, Arwen I. I. Tyler, Shiqi Wang, Rongjun Chen, Carlos M. Marques, Fabrice Thalmann, John M. Seddon, Marc Schmutz
Cubosomes consist in submicron size particles of lipid bicontinuous cubic phases stabilized by surfactant polymers. They provide an appealing road towards the practical use of lipid cubic phases for pharmaceutical and cosmetic […]

ACS Omega, 2(11) 7482–7492 (2017)
Daniela Ciumac, Richard A. Campbell, Luke A. Clifton, Hai Xu∥ , Giovanna Fragneto, and Jian R. Lu
Different bacterial types and their living environments can lead to different saturations in the chains of their membrane lipids. Such structural differences may influence the efficacy of antibiotics that target bacterial membranes. In this work, […]

Materials, 11(1) 60 (2018)
Anna Orlowska, Pallale Tharushi Perera, Mohammad Al Kobaisi, Andre Dias,
Huu Khuong Duy Nguyen, Shahram Ghanaati, Vladimir A. Baulin, Russell J. Crawford, Elena P. Ivanova
Cellular attachment plays a vital role in the differentiation of pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. PC12 cells are noradrenergic clonal cells isolated from the adrenal medulla of Rattus norvegicus and studied extensively […]

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., (2017)
Anna Sofia Tascini, Massimo Noro, Rongjun Chen, John Seddon and Fernando Bresme
In recent years, the sebum oil has been found to play a key role in the regulation of the hydration of the outermost layer of the skin, the stratum corneum. Understanding how a major component of the sebum oil, the triglyceride […]

Clin. Oral Invest.,  (2017)
Po-ju Chia-LaiAnna OrlowskaSarah Al-MaawiAndre DiasYunxin ZhangXuejiu WangNiklas ZenderRobert SaderC. James KirkpatrickShahram Ghanaati
This study examines the permeability and barrier capacity of a sugar cross-linked resorbable collagen membrane ex vivo and in vivo. In an ex vivo study, injectable platelet-rich fibrin (i-PRF), a peripheral blood-derived human leukocyte-and-platelet-rich plasma was used to analyze membrane permeability. […]

J Mater Sci: Mater Med, 28, 188 (2017)
Simon Wend, Alica Kubesch, Anna Orlowska, Sarah Al-Maawi, Niklas Zender, Andre Dias, Richard J. Miron, Robert Sader, Patrick Booms, C. James Kirkpatrick, Joseph Choukroun, Shahram Ghanaati
Platelet rich fibrin (PRF) is a blood concentrate system obtained by centrifugation of peripheral blood. First PRF matrices exhibited solid fibrin scaffold, more recently […]

Acta Biomaterialia, 59, 148-157 (2017).
Elena P. Ivanova, Song Ha Nguyen, Yachong Guo, Vladimir A. Baulin, Hayden K. Webb, Vi Khanh Truong, Jason V. Wandiyanto, Christopher J. Garvey, Peter
J. Mahon, David E. Mainwaring, Russell J. Crawford
The wings of insects such as cicadas and dragonflies have been found to exhibit nanostructure arrays that are assembled from fatty acids, […]

J. Phys. Chem. Lett., 8, 4069–4076 (2017).
Chan-Fei Su, Holger Merlitz, Hauke Rabbel, and Jens-Uwe Sommer
Using coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations, we study the passive translocation of nanoparticles with a size of about 1 nm and with tunable degrees of hydrophobicity through lipid bilayer membranes. We observe a window of translocation with a sharp maximum for nanoparticles […]

Seminars in Immunology, DOI: 10.1016/j.smim.2017.06.001 (2017).
Sarah Al-Maawi, Anna Orlowska, Robert Sader, C. James Kirkpatrick, Shahram Ghanaati
Biomaterials are widely used in guided bone regeneration (GBR) and guided tissue regeneration (GTR). After application, there is an interaction between the host immune system and the implanted biomaterial, leading to a biomaterial-specific cellular reaction. The present review focuses on […]

Biomaterials, 140, 138-149 (2017).
Martin Stefanic, Kevin Ward, Harvey Tawfik, Ralf Seemann, Vladimir Baulin, Yachong Guo, Jean-Baptiste Fleury, Christophe Drouet
Cryopreservation of red blood cells (RBC) is an important method for maintaining an inventory of rare RBC units and managing special transfusion circumstances. Currently, in a clinical setting, glycerol is used as cryoprotectant against freezing damage. After […]

Colloids and Surfaces B, 150, 308–316 (2017).
Daniela Ciumac, Richard A. Campbell, Hai Xu, Luke A. Clifton, Arwel V. Hughes, John R.P. Webster, Jian R. Lu
Many antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) target bacterial membranes and they kill bacteria by causing structural disruptions. One of the fundamental issues however lies in the selective responses of AMPs to different cell […]

Chem. Mater., DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.7b00054 (2017).
Shiqi Wang and Rongjun Chen
The insufficient delivery of biomacromolecular therapeutic agents into the cytoplasm of mammalian cells remains a major barrier to their pharmaceutical applications. Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are considered as potential carriers for cytoplasmic delivery of macromolecular drugs. However, due to the positive charge of most CPPs, strong non-specific cell […]

Computer Physics Communications, 216, 95–101(2017).
Yachong Guo, Vladimir A. Baulin
We present parallel version of Rosenbluth Self-Avoiding Walk generation method implemented on Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) using CUDA libraries. The method scales almost linearly with the number of CUDA cores and the method efficiency has only hardware limitations. The method is introduced in two realizations: on a […]

Appl Microbiol Biotechnol (2017). doi:10.1007/s00253-017-8205-9
Vi Khanh Truong, Nipuni Mahanamanam Geeganagamage, Vladimir A. Baulin, Jitraporn Vongsvivut, Mark J. Tobin, Pere Luque, Russell J. Crawford, Elena P. Ivanova
Nanostructured insect wing surfaces have been reported to possess the ability to resist bacterial colonization through the mechanical rupture of bacterial cells coming into contact with the surface. In this […]

Soft Matter, 13, 3690-3700 (2017)
Sivaramakrishnan Ramadurai, Marco Werner, Nigel K.H. Slater, Aaron Martin, Vladimir A. Baulin, Tia Keyes
Deeper understanding of the molecular interactions between polymeric materials and the lipid membrane is important across a range of applications from permeation for drug delivery to encapsulation for immuno-evasion. Using highly fluidic microcavity supported lipid bilayers, we studied […]

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, Article ASAP (2017)
Siyuan Chen, Shiqi Wang, Michal Kopytynski, Marie Bachelet, and Rongjun Chen
Endosomal release has been identified as a rate-limiting step for intracellular delivery of therapeutic agents, in particular macromolecular drugs. Herein, we report a series of synthetic pH-responsive, membrane-anchoring polymers exhibiting dramatic endosomolytic activity for efficient intracellular delivery. The comb-like […]

ACS Macro Lett., 6, pp 247–251 (2017)
Marco Werner, Jasper Bathmann, Vladimir A. Baulin, and Jens-Uwe Sommer
We propose a theory to predict the passive translocation of flexible polymers through amphiphilic membranes. By using a generic model for the potential felt by a monomer across the membrane we calculate the free energy profile for homopolymers as a function […]

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. (2016)
Anna Sofia Tascini,   Jeff Armstrong,   Eliodoro Chiavazzo,   Matteo Fasano,   Pietro Asinari and    Fernando Bresme

We investigate the general dependence of the thermal transport across nanoparticle-fluid interfaces using molecular dynamics computations. We show that the thermal conductance depends strongly both on the wetting characteristics of the nanoparticle-fluid interface […]

Science Advances 2 (11), e1600261 (2016)
Yachong Guo, Emmanuel Terazzi, Ralf Seemann, Jean Baptiste Fleury and Vladimir A. Baulin

Hydrophobic nanoparticles introduced into living systems may lead to increased toxicity, can activate immune cells, or can be used as nanocarriers for drug or gene delivery. It is generally accepted that small hydrophobic nanoparticles are blocked by lipid bilayers and accumulate in the […]

Advanced Materials: 10.1002/adma.201602888 (2016)
H. Hähl, J. Nabor Vargas, A. Griffo, P. Laaksonen, G. Szilvay, M. Lienemann, K. Jacobs, R. Seemann, J.-B. Fleury

Pure protein bilayers and vesicles are formed using the native, fungal hydrophobin HFBI. Bilayers with hydrophobic (red) and hydrophilic (blue) core are produced and, depending on the type of core, vesicles in water, oily […]