(473a) Incorporation of Amphiphilic Peptides to Lipid/Polymer Nanobubbles

Microbubble systems have become an attractive avenue for theranostic drug delivery, as they provide a means to image, target, and administer therapeutics.  While successful in applications such as echocardiography, extending the potential usage of these materials to treat a greater diversity of conditions will require a reduction in bubble size to allow for delivery and permeation through tissue.  Simultaneously, the inclusion of additional therapeutic/targeting domains requires a greater understanding of the molecular interactions that take place amongst shell constituents to move towards a more robust and multifunctional interface.  In this work, we investigate the introduction of rationally designed, amphiphilic, alpha-helical peptides of differing charge distribution to polymerically stabilized, lipid nanobubbles as a means to control bubble size and provide site-specific targeting capabilities.  We explore the impact that these combinations of molecules have on both the curvature and stability of such bubble systems.  Our experiments aim to quantify the fundamental effects that the peptides have on interfacial phase behavior, in-plane structure and elasticity.