Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 26: Posters: Membranes and Vesicles

BP 26.19: Poster

Thursday, March 29, 2012, 17:30–19:30, Poster A

STED-FCS on near-critical lipid membranes — •Jens Ehrig, Eugene P. Petrov, and Petra Schwille — Biophysics, BIOTEC, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Dynamic phase separation in cell membranes is believed to play an important role in many membrane-associated cellular processes. This microheterogeneity is one of the reasons for anomalous diffusion of lipid molecules which is frequently observed in cell membranes. We have recently shown via Monte Carlo simulations that the presence of near-critical fluctuations in a lipid membrane may lead to transient anomalous diffusion of lipid molecules [1]. It is therefore extremely interesting to test whether anomalous diffusion due to critical fluctuations can be observed experimentally in model membranes under appropriate conditions. We report results of our experiments on model lipid membranes exhibiting near-critical fluctuations using STED-FCS [2], an experimental technique which can provide valuable information on diffusion dynamics on spatial scales from a few tens to few hundreds of nanometers on time scales ranging from microseconds to seconds.
J. Ehrig, E. P. Petrov, and P. Schwille, Biophys. J. 100 (2011) 80
L. Kastrup, H. Blom, C. Eggeling, and S.W. Hell, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94 (2005) 178104