Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik

CPP 9: Poster: Biopolymers and Biomaterials

CPP 9.8: Poster

Monday, March 14, 2011, 17:30–19:30, P2

Shear-flow enhanced conformational fluctuations of single-tethered DNA molecules — •Katrin Günther, Kristin Laube, and Michael Mertig — Technische Universität Dresden, Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Mess- und Sensortechnik, 01069 Dresden, Germany

Several processes in life science and nanotechnology involve the transport and manipulation of long polymers. Due to its self-recognizing and self assemling properties in conjunction with its variability in length, DNA is a useful target for verifying theoretical polymer models.

Our work focuses on analysing the thermal fluctuations of single, surface-tethered DNA molecules in hydrodynamic shear flow by fluorescence microscopy. Instead of staining DNA with conventional intercalating fluorescent dyes, known to modify DNA properties, we use quantum dots for marking and observing the free end. Conformational transformations at particular shear rates are related to the morphology model of Brochard-Wyart.