Berlin 2005 – scientific programme
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AKB: Biologische Physik
AKB 100: Poster Session I
AKB 100.66: Poster
Saturday, March 5, 2005, 16:45–18:45, Poster TU D
Towards Scanning Near-Field Optical Microscopy on Freestanding Biological Membrane — •Simone K. J. Johnas1, Christiane Hoeppener2, and Andreas Naber2 — 1HASYLAB@DESY, Notkestr. 85, 22607 Hamburg — 2Universtaet Karlsruhe, Institut fuer Angewandte Physik, Wolfgang-Gaede-Str.1, 76131 Karlsruhe
The nuclear pore complex (NPC) is a large macromolecular protein assembly embedded in the nuclear envelope (NE) of an eukaryotic cell. It controls tightly the exchange of all kinds of molecules between the cytoplasm and the nucleus. Thus NPCs play an important role for e.g. the metabolism of the nucleus and the effects of medicaments. Since the NPCs are densely packed in the membrane, conventional optical microscopy is not able to distinguish between two neighboured NPCs. By means of scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) we have attained an optically resolved fluorescence image of dye-labeled NPCs in a functionally intact NE for the first time. Thus the aim of this project is a time-resolved oberservation of single transport events. A major obstacle towards this goal is the need of two compartments below and above the NE which mimic its natural environment. Possible preparation techniques and ways to image a freestanding membrane in a buffer solution with SNOM will be discussed. A new approach of the SNOM set-up guarantees the integrity of the soft biological membrane.