Researchers at Scripps Research Institute have developed a chip-based method that creates uniformly sized vesicles in assembly-line fashion to aid in developing novel proteins and synthetic cells.

Sized between 20 and 70 micrometers in diameter, the vesicles are large enough to be loaded with DNA and the biochemical machinery to act as synthetic cells.

The synthetic packaging will help researchers study the proteins in cell membranes, which play important roles as gatekeepers of the cell. Many drugs, for example, act on these membrane proteins or otherwise use them to get inside cells in order to do their job.