A new tool for cell biologists for creating synthetic cell membranes

Using a new approach for "click" chemistry, a collaboration of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, the Max Planck Institute, the Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials, RWTH Aachen University, and Freie Universität Berlin have designed self-organizing nanovesicles that can have their surfaces decorated with similar sugar molecules as viruses, bacteria, or living cells. This work provides a new tool for studying how certain pathogens use these sugar molecules to evade detection by a host's immune system.