Regensburg 2010 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 5: Posters: Biopolymers and Biomaterials

BP 5.31: Poster

Montag, 22. März 2010, 17:15–20:00, Poster B1

Microfluidic Drops as Tuneable Bio-Environments — •Christian Dammann, Bernd Nöding, Susanne Bauch, and Sarah Köster — Courant Research Centre Nano-Spectroscopy and X-Ray Imaging, University of Göttingen, Germany

The structure and function of biological systems depends sensitively on their bio-environmental context. Here, we present a novel microfluidic device that offers the possibility to monitor the behavior of biological systems over time while tuning external parameters. We produce monodisperse aqueous emulsion drops that act as picoliter bio-compartments in a continuous oil phase. A series of drops is created and the content compositions are varied from drop to drop. The drops are then stored in the device and thus long-time observations are possible while the information about the composition of each drop is known. Possible applications for such microfluidic platforms are manifold. Here, we show the utility of the device by investigating assembly and network formation of vimentin intermediate filaments in confined geometry by imaging fluorescently tagged proteins. Vimentin assembly and network formation depends on ionic strength. Therefore, we define the salt concentration for each drop. These drop series are stored and observed over time by means of fluorescence microscopy. This study is an important step towards a better understanding of the assembly dynamics of vimentin and the final structure of the networks and demonstrates the well-defined conditions which can be established in microfluidic devices.