A molecular communication interface using liposomes with gap junction proteins

Molecular communication [1]-[2] is an emerging communication paradigm that uses molecules as a communication medium. Molecular communication allows biological and artificially created nano- or cell-scale devices to communicate with each other. In molecular communication, senders encode information onto molecules (called information molecules), and information molecules are then loaded onto carrier molecules and transported to a receiver. Upon arriving at a receiver, information molecules are unloaded from carrier molecules, and the receiver reacts biochemically to the information molecules. This paper proposes a molecular communication system that uses liposomes with gap junction proteins as an interface. A liposome acts as a container of information molecules, and information molecules propagate through gap junctions [3] from a sender to a liposome and also from a liposome to a receiver.