Biofunctionalized lipid-polymer hybrid nanocontainers with controlled permeability.

We have successfully developed, for the first time, a novel polymer-lipid hybrid nanocontainer with controlled permeability functionality. The nanocontainer is made by nanofabricating holes with desired dimensions in an impermeable polymer scaffold by focused ion beam drilling and sealing them with lipid bilayers containing remote-controlled pore-forming channel proteins. This system allows exchange of solutions only after channel activation at will to form temporary pores in the container. Potential applications are foreseen in bionanosensors, nanoreactors, nanomedicine, and triggered delivery.