Regensburg 2007 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 19: POSTER: Micro and Nano Fluidics

CPP 19.16: Poster

Wednesday, March 28, 2007, 16:00–18:30, Poster B

Semiflexible and sheared: actin filaments in microflow — •Dagmar Steinhauser, Holger Stark, and Thomas Pfohl — Max-Planck-Institut für Dynamik und Selbstorganisation, Bunsenstraße 10, 37073 Göttingen

Actin filaments, aside from their biological renown as providing the 'skeleton' of cells, also proffer an ideal platform from which to study - more generally - the properties of semi-flexible polymers. Microfluidic devices made using soft-lithography are easily adapted in dimension and geometry to create well-defined flow environments. Actin filaments inside microfluidic channels are visualized by stroboscopic laser light illumination. Single filaments are considered in a symmetric channel with Poiseuille velocity profile, and the stochastic and deterministic behaviors of the filaments are analyzed for different flow rates. A detailed analysis of the center-of-mass probability distribution along a cross-section of the channel is reported, and a spatial varying orientation and conformation of the filaments are found. This work is supported by the DFG within the priority program SPP 1164.