Artificial Cell Membranes Interfaced with Optical Tweezers: A Versatile Microfluidics Platform for Nanomanipulation and Mechanical Characterization.

ABSTRACT: Cell lipid membranes are the site of vital biological processes, such as motility, trafficking, and sensing, many of which involve mechanical forces. Elucidating the interplay between such bioprocesses and mechanical forces requires the use of tools that apply and measure piconewton-level forces, e.g., optical tweezers. Here, we introduce the combination of optical tweezers with free-standing lipid bilayers, which are fully accessible on both sides of the membrane. In the vicinity of the lipid bilayer, optical trapping would normally be impossible due to optical distortions caused by pockets of the solvent trapped within the membrane. We solve this by drastically reducing the size of these pockets via tuning of the solvent and flow cell material. In the resulting flow cells, lipid nanotube

SUBMITTER: Dols-Perez A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6753654 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature