This research was to study the effects of the size lipid vesicles had on the formation of Styrene Maleic-acid lipid particles (SMALPs) when mixed with Styrene Maleic acid (SMA). this was accomplished by extruding the DMPC vesicles to 100 and 200nm and adding incremental amounts of SMA to the lipids until SMALPs formation was confirmed. SMALPs formation was confirmed using dynamic light scattering (DLS), which would show a uniform size distribution when SMALPs were formed. It was found that SMALPs formed for the 100nm extrusion at a 1:0.75 lipid to SMA ratio by volume, a 1:1 ratio for the 200nm extrusion, and a 1:1.5 ratio for the unextruded control vesicles. This data showed that the DMPC lipid does show SMALPs formation activity and the amount of SMA needed to form SMALPs increases as the size of the vesicles increases. This opens the door to continue this study for different lipids to determine how widespread SMALPs formation is and what parameters allow them to form.
Author: Laurance Haddad, Biochemistry
Advisor: Gary Lorigan, Chemistry and Biochemistry
Graduate Advisor: Yazmyne Richardson, Chemistry and Biochemistry
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