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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 24: Posters: Physics of Cells

BP 24.31: Poster

Mittwoch, 13. März 2013, 17:30–19:30, Poster C

Novel elastic force sensors for live cell investigations — •Sören Björn Gutekunst, Julia Reverey, and Christine Selhuber-Unkel — Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel, Institute for Materials Science, Germany

Phagocytosis is an essential mechanism found in many cell types. It is of key importance for the functioning of biological systems and tissues and plays a significant role for the immune system. So far, the forces acting during the uptake of target cells and artificial particles are still not known. It can be suggested from electron microscopy that pathogenic amoebae such as Acanthamoebae exert comparably large forces during the phagocytosis of target cells. In order to elucidate the complexity of such force generation events during phagocytosis in different cellular systems and to gain further insight into the underlying processes, we fabricate elastic polyacrylamide beads (EPABs). To this end, we transfer the concept of traction force microscopy into the third dimension and synthesize fluorescent elastic polyacrylamide beads (EPABs) with incorporated fluorescent nanoparticles by means of inversed emulsion polymerization. The elasticity of the EPABs can be changed by varying the amounts of crosslinker and is characterized with AFM. Our goal is to finally be able to relate changes in particle shape to the forces exerted by cells in a bead deformation assay (BDA). We will in particular use this method to investigate target cell killing and uptake in Acanthamoebae.