Paclitaxel loaded cerasomes exhibited sophisticated controlled release behavior and remarkably high stability towards surfactant solubilization, long-term storage, acidic treatment, and all factors susceptible to destabilize conventional liposomes, demonstrating that liposomal nanohybrid cerasomes can be a new promising drug delivery system.

An innovative photoresponsive cerasome is fabricated by sol–gel process in combination of self-assembly technique from a molecularly designed organoalkoxysilylated lipid containing an azobenzene unit, which is able to operate as a “valve” with an “on–off” function under specific stimuli to control the release of loaded guest molecules from the liposomal membrane.

Well-defined hybrid nanodiscs were produced by employing bicelle formation of a binary lipid mixture in water. The resulting nanoparticles have a lipid bilayer coated with ceramic layers, which are formed by the sol–gel reaction among the alkoxysilyl headgroups of the hybrid lipid. The hybrid bicelles displayed significant morphological stability against dry environments and surfactant addition, in stark contrast to conventional phospholipid bicelles.

Molecular communication is a bio-inspired communication paradigm using molecules as information carriers. The molecular communication system includes propagation of information carrier molecules between a molecular sender and a molecular receiver and followed by amplification of the information at the receiver. In this article, we built an example molecular communication system using a gemini peptide lipid as a molecular switch. The molecular switch embedded in the lipid bilayer membranes exhibited photoresponsive recognition behaviour towards metal ions, such as Cu²⁺ and Zn²⁺, to control propagation of molecular capsules formed by small liposomes to a giant liposomal receiver. In addition, the molecular switch acted as an artificial receptor in the receiver, receiving a photonic signal to communicate with an enzyme as a signal amplifier by using Cu²⁺ ion as a mediator between the receptor and the amplifier.