Closed vesicle formation through the spontaneous curvature of flat colloidal membranes

Edgeless vesicles serve many functions in biology, including storage and transport. Many of these functions require shape transformation, where vesicles spontaneously bud off and fuse with one another. However, the length and time scales associated with these processes do not permit visualization of these shape changes in real time with molecular details. We study the dynamics of vesicle formation using a model system of micron-thick colloidal membranes. While colloidal membranes displays similar physics to biological membranes, the dynamics occur at length and time scales that are several orders of magnitude larger than typical cellular vesicles. We describe the observed dynamics of initially flat sheets that undergo curving, budding and fracturing to form closed colloidal vesicles.