Interaction of lamellar and non-lamellar lipid mesophases with inorganic nanoparticles

The behavior of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) with biological interfaces is a key research topic, to boost Nanomedicine development. In this respect, 2D lipid assemblies are reliable biomimetic models of cell membranes, allowing to investigate nano-bio interactions in simplified conditions. We propose a Neutron Reflectometry (NR) investigation on lipid films of different architectures, i.e., lamellar structure of glyecrylmonooleate mixed with lecithin (GMO-lec) compared to cubic structure of GMO, in their interaction with different inorganic nanoparticles. Lipid films will be challenged with NPs of different core (gold or magnetite), shape (sphere or rod) and diverse surface functionalization (hydrophilic, hydrophobic). The experimental results will contribute to the understanding of the effects of the physicochemical features of NPs on target lipid membranes of different structure.