We use plasmon rulers to follow the conformational dynamics of a single protein for up to 24 h at a video rate. The plasmon ruler consists of two gold nanospheres connected by a single protein linker. In our experiment, we follow the dynamics of the molecular chaperone heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), which is known to show “open” and “closed” conformations. Our measurements confirm the previously known conformational dynamics with transition times in the second to minute time scale and reveals new dynamics on the time scale of minutes to hours. Plasmon rulers thus extend the observation bandwidth 3–4 orders of magnitude with respect to single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer and enable the study of molecular dynamics with unprecedented precision.

The blue light-dependent interaction between the proteins iLID and Nano allows recruiting and patterning proteins on GUV membranes, which thereby capture key features of patterns observed in nature. This photoswitchable protein interaction provides non-invasive, reversible and dynamic control over protein patterns of different sizes with high specificity and spatiotemporal resolution.

Cell adhesions to the extracellular matrix and to neighboring cells are fundamental to cell behavior and have also been implemented into minimal synthetic cells, which are assembled from molecular building blocks from the bottom‐up. Investigating adhesion in cell mimetic models with reduced complexity provides a better understanding of biochemical and biophysical concepts underlying the cell adhesion machinery. In return, implementing cell–matrix and cell–cell adhesions into minimal synthetic cells allows reconstructing cell functions associated with cell adhesions including cell motility, multicellular prototissues, fusion of vesicles, and the self‐sorting of different cell types. Cell adhesions have been mimicked using both the native cell receptors and reductionist mimetics providing a variety of specific, reversible, dynamic, and spatiotemporally controlled interactions. This review gives an overview of different minimal adhesion modules integrated into different minimal synthetic cells drawing inspiration from cell and colloidal science.

Biofilms are not only a leading cause of chronic infections and biofouling, but they also have a tremendous positive potential in biotechnology for biocatalysis and waste treatment. Biofilms are spatially structured communities of microbes, which exchange chemicals and communicate with each other. By spatially controlling bacterial adhesion to surfaces, and therefore the microstructure of biofilms, a promising method of understanding social interactions between bacteria and designed biofilms is developed. The bacterial photolithography approach described here allows to photopattern specific bacteria adhesion molecules, to control surface adhesion, and to guide the formation of biofilms. To do this, α‐D‐mannoside, which is recognized by the Escherichia coli FimH receptor, is linked to a nonadhesive polyethylene glycol surface through a photocleavable 2‐nitrobenzyl linker. When a pattern of UV light in a specific shape is projected onto these surfaces, the light‐exposed areas become nonadhesive and bacteria only adhere to the dark, unexposed areas in the photopattern. Bacterial photolithography enables bacterial patterning with high spatial resolution down to 10 µm without mechanical interference. Additionally, patterning biofilms with complicated geometries allows studying the importance of microscale spatial organization on the collective behavior of bacteria such as quorum sensing.