Liposomes and lipid nanoparticles are enjoying renewed attention lately, just think of the lipid-based vaccines against covid-19.Liposomes consist of phospholipids. Phospholipids are self-associating lyophilic amphiphiles. Already in the early history of humans, liposomes were produced, albeit unconsciously, by scrambling eggs as if by themselves. So why the hell have an extra seminar about it?

Well, early liposomes were anything but well-defined in terms of lipid membrane number and size. And uniformity from approach to approach in experimental series is of course also important here to enable reproducibility of scientific investigations as well as medical applications. Meanwhile, for liposomal-based drugs, regulatory authorities expect a huge amount of biophysical testing, which can sometimes be demotivating. So in this seminar we will talk about methods of manufacturing liposomes, ways of incorporating model substances and drugs into liposomes and the characterisation of liposomes. If there is time, we can also talk about the interaction of liposomes with biological systems.