ABSTRACT
Non-lamellar phases of lipids are of interest due to their relevance to understanding the driving forces behind curvature and topological transformations in biomembranes. In addition, they have a great potential in applications such as drug or gene delivery to cells. In this chapter, the interactions driving the formation of phases having curved interfaces are first briefly reviewed, leading to a description of the underlying engineering design principles for producing a given lipid phase. For biomedical applications, it is generally necessary to disperse the bulk lipid phases in the form of nanoparticles (cubosomes or hexosomes). The role of hydrostatic pressure in controlling lipid phase behaviour is poorly understood and yet is of great importance, for example in marine biology. In vivo there is increasing evidence that cubic phases carry out specific functions in a variety of species and also play a role during fat digestion. Finally, the use of lipid cubic phases for the crystallization of membrane proteins is discussed.
