Berlin 2015 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 35: Membranes and vesicles II (joint BP/CPP)

BP 35.11: Talk

Wednesday, March 18, 2015, 18:00–18:15, H 1028

Fast tracking with nanometer precision of individual proteins on the cell membrane — •Richard Taylor and Vahid Sandoghdar — Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Erlangen, Germany

The diffusion dynamics of membrane-incorporated proteins in the live cell is of great biological significance, but its studies are complicated and nuanced due to the diversity and heterogeneity of the membrane landscape. While fluorescence microscopy is routinely employed to investigate membrane phenomena, a low fluorescence rate and photobleaching limit this technique both on the short and long time scales. Furthermore, fluorescence microscopy suffers from a poor axial resolution.

Here, we report on the use of interferometric scattering (iSCAT) imaging with high three-dimensional spatio-temporal resolution. By labelling the proteins with a small gold nanoparticle, we are able to track indefinitely the protein diffusion in and out of plane, to an unparalleled nm-level accuracy at many thousands of frames per second. We present recent work on tracking of EGFR proteins in the model HeLa cell. Furthermore, we discuss the use of iSCAT imaging for studying out-of-membrane movement, thus allowing investigation into endocytotic reactions.