Investigating the interaction of inorganic nanoparticles (NPs) with synthetic lipid assemblies has thepotential to expand both our understanding and the applicative spectrum of these materials in thebiomedical field. In particular, the mechanical properties of nanoparticles for biomedical use play acrucial role in their bioactivity, and in the interaction with cellular membranes, relevant for cellularuptake. Our group has investigated the interaction of plasmonic Au nanoparticles with supported and free-standing synthetic lipid bilayers, to address the membrane-induced aggregation which mightresults in a significant variation of the surface plasmonic resonance.
This contribution will deal with hybrid systems composed of NPs and membrane enveloped nanosizedparticles, either synthetic liposomes or extracellular vesicles, (EVs), a major player in intercellularcommunication and mediators for physiological and pathological processes. We will show how somecentral colloidal properties of liposomes and EVs’ dispersions can be monitored leveraging theproperties of NPs, by introducing a nanoplasmonic assay for fast purity checking and a plasmon-based nanoruler for collectively fingerprinting EVs based on their stiffness.