Graphene as membrane for encapsulation of yeast cells: protective and electrically conducting

Abstract

Graphene sheets (chemically reduced), a high modulus and high thermal and electrically conductive material are coupled with yeast cells to form an encapsulating inorganic functional layer. The coupling of the high modulus sheets with the cells increases their stability to osmotic stresses. The sheets also allow the direct visualization of the cells in an electron microscope.

Microencapsulation of bacterial strains in graphene oxide nano-sheets using vortex fluidics

“…We note that other methods to interface graphene sheets onto the surface of microorganisms usually involves extensive chemical modication of the graphene sheets, such as functionalization with protein as reported by Mohanty et al 28 Similarly Kempaiah et al established that calcium-ion functionalized graphene sheets can easily interface with yeast cells whereas unfunctionalized graphene sheets fail to interface with the cells. 27 Herein, we demonstrate the encapsulation of cells without the need for chemical modication of the graphene sheets. The process has potential for surface functionalization of bacterial cells, immobilizing them for applications in devices, sensors, controlled drug release and targeted delivery, wastewater treatment, for example.…”

“…Several examples have recently been reported, including introducing superparamagnetic nanoparticles for magnetic eld responses, 24,25 silica to enhance thermal durability, 26 and graphene to impart electrical conductivity. 27,28 Another potential encapsulating material for microorganisms is graphene oxide (GO) which has a number of advantageous properties such as biodegradability, 29 exibility, 30 robustness, 30 transparency 30 and amphiphilicity. 31 We recently reported on the encapsulation of microalgae, Chlorella vulgaris with GO layers while maintaining biological activity of the cells.…”

Wear properties of graphene edges probed by atomic force microscopy based lateral manipulation

“…Therefore, graphene can be applied as an extremely compact protective coating for friction and wear reduction [2,4,5,6,7,8], as an anti-corrosion layer [9], for van der Waals screening [10], as a lubricant for rotating and sliding electrical contacts [11], for the mechanical encapsulation and protection of molecules and 10 cells [12,13,14,15], and for flexible optoelectronics [16,17,18,19].…”

An Enzyme‐Coated Metal–Organic Framework Shell for Synthetically Adaptive Cell Survival

“…Recently,a rtificial nanocoatings have appeared as an approach to mimic the robustness of cell membranes and walls found in some extremophiles,while avoiding genetic modification. [7][8][9] Nanocoating cell surfaces creates ap hysical barrier between the cell and the external environment while still allowing nutrient exchange.T hese nanocoatings have improved cellular tolerance against heat, [10,11] UV radiation, [12,13] toxins, [14][15][16][17] osmotic pressure, [18,19] and mechanical stress. [20,21] Although nanocoatings have demonstrated protective abilities,t heir integration with active biomacromolecules is ac hallenge.T his prevents the bioengineering of such coatings with extrinsic bioactive functionalities that could impart artificial adaptive ability, thus overcoming original biological limitations.F or example, eukaryotic cells lack the ability to harvest energy from nutrient-depleted environments; [22] however, providing cells with abioactive protective nanocoating capable of converting depleted media into usable nutrients could furnish new opportunities in therapy, [23] diagnostics, [24] stressresponse, [25,26] and biocatalysis, [27] and could also revolutionize the dairy and pharmaceutical industries.…”