Dresden 2026 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 8: Systems and Networks Biophysics

BP 8.3: Invited Talk

Monday, March 9, 2026, 17:15–17:45, BAR/0106

Constructing synthetic life-like vesicle systems by integration of artificial metabolic reaction networks — •Laura Heinen — DWI - Leibniz Institut für interaktive Materialien, Aachen, Germany

Life emerges as a systemic property of the interplay of complex chemical reaction networks out of equilibrium. Living cells, for example, need energy to grow, divide, process information and synthesize their own constituent building blocks. In my group we develop minimal metabolic reaction networks to fuel out of equilibrium behavior in synthetic lipid vesicles, to finally, build active cell-like compartments bottom-up, called synthetic cells. In my talk I will demonstrate the construction of autonomous, active behavior in vesicles by the example of cross-feeding in between synthetic vesicles. Key to such sustained out-of-equilibrium behavior is the selective transport of energy molecules across the lipid membrane. One population of vesicles produces and exports adenosine triphosphate (ATP) while a second population of vesicles takes up the ATP and uses this chemical energy to fuel ATP-consuming reactions. The hydrolyzed ATP feeds back into the first vesicle population where it will be recycled, and the interdependent metabolic cycle can be sustained. The vesicles are a platform to enable active behavior in synthetic systems in a continuous, autonomous and adaptive fashion. Fundamentally, they allow us to study non-equilibrium processes in an energy-controlled environment and will promote our understanding of constructing life-like materials and systems.

Keywords: synthetic cells; membrane proteins; life-like systems; vesicles; reaction networks