  In this paper, we study a hydrodynamic system modeling the deformation of
vesicle membranes in incompressible viscous fluids. The system consists of the
Navier-Stokes equations coupled with a fourth order phase-field equation. In
the three dimensional case, we prove the existence/uniqueness of local strong
solutions for arbitrary initial data as well as global strong solutions under
the large viscosity assumption. We also establish some regularity criteria in
terms of the velocity for local smooth solutions. Finally, we investigate the
stability of the system near local minimizers of the elastic bending energy.
