Welcome to the Biointerfaces Group of Cornelia G. Palivan!
We study soft bio-hybrid materials resulting from the combination of biomolecules with synthetic assemblies at the nano- and micro-scale. The goal of our research is to probe and understand the relation between the components of bio-hybrid materials as well as the biointerface of such materials with cells or simple animal models. The main questions that guide our research are: How can biomolecules preserve their function in a synthetic environment? How to modify biomolecules to induce new functionality and how is this affected when a bio-hybrid material is designed? How to self-organize bio-hybrid assemblies in more complex architectures to provide multifunctionality? Which are the interactions of bio-hybrid materials with cells? How to produce a new bio-hybrid material with desired functionality for specific applications? Our interest extends from fundamental understanding at the molecular level of such bio-hybrid materials and associated biointerfaces to technological and medical applications.
Latest Publications

Polymeric Giant Unilamellar Vesicles with Integrated DNA-Origami Nanopores: An Efficient Platform for Tuning Bioreaction Dynamics Through Controlled Molecular Diffusion
R. Cochereau, V. Maffeis, E. C. dos Santos, E. Lörtscher, C. G. Palivan
Advanced Functional Materials, 2023 , p.2304782, DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202304782
Synthetic molecular motor activates drug delivery from polymersomes
A. Guinart, M. Korpidou, D. Doellerer, G. Pacella, M. C. A. Stuart, I. A. Dinu, G. Portale, C. G. Palivan, B. L. Feringa
PNAS, 2023 ,120, 27, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2301279120

Trends in the Synthesis of Polymer Nano- and Microscale Materials for Bio-Related Applications
J. P. Coats, R. Cochereau, I. A. Dinu, D. Messmer, F. Sciortino, C. G. Palivan
Macromol. Biosci. 2023, 2200474. DOI: 10.1002/mabi.202200474

Advances in Biohybridized Planar Polymer Membranes and Membrane-Like Matrices
O. M. Eggenberger, P. Jaśko, S. Tarvirdipour, C.-A. Schoenenberger, C. G. Palivan
Helv. Chim. Acta2023, e202200164. DOI: 10.1002/hlca.202200164

Clusters of polymersomes and Janus nanoparticles hierarchically self-organized and controlled by DNA hybridization
V. Mihali, M. Skowicki, D. Messmer, and C. G. Palivan
Nano Today, 2023, 48, 101741, DOI: 10.1016/j.nantod.2022.101741

Cell-derived Vesicles with Increased Stability and On-Demand Functionality by Equipping their Membrane with a Cross-linkable Copolymer
X. Huang, D. Hürlimann, H. T. Spanke, D. Wu, M. Skowicki, I. A. Dinu, E. R. Dufresne, C. G. Palivan
Adv. Healthcare Mater., 2022, DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202202100