Manipulation of biomimetic soft interfaces by optical and microfluidic methods

© 2019 Elsevier Inc. The design and manufacturing of functional soft structures, based on multiple compartments delimited and interconnected by lipid-stabilized or surfactant-stabilized interfaces, are attracting an increasing level of attention. These soft constructs have shown a great potential as minimal cells in synthetic biology, simplified model systems for biophysical and biochemical studies and smart containers for drug delivery and microreactor technologies. In recent years, microfluidic and optical methods for the manipulation of such soft interfaces have provided a substantial contribution to the design and development of novel artificial systems exhibiting interesting cell-like behaviors and functions. This chapter reviews some of the latest optical and microfluidic techniques for the construction and characterization of artificial soft structures with a specific focus on droplet interface bilayer architectures and soft nanotube networks.