Aug. 16, 2010

Sensing Forces in the Microworld

Holographic optical tweezers (HOT) are a versatile tool allowing for the generation of complex arrays of multiple optical traps which act as force sensors with piconewton resolution. The combination of HOT and stop-flow microfluidics integrated with a fluorescence microscope gives full spatial, chemical and visual control over the microenvironment. This allows us to investigate the dynamic properties of complex biosystems at the microscale, such as crosslinking in biomimetic actin networks.

Creating Biomimetic in vitro Models
moreDec. 14, 2009

Holographic Optical Tweezers

The actin cortex, a quasi two-dimensional network of actin, plays an important role in cell stability, motility and viscoelasticity. In vivo, its characteristic properties are controlled by various actinbinding proteins (ABPs), such as crosslinkers or ions. To investigate the influence of specific crosslinkers on the network's behaviour exclusively, we create and probe biomimetic models of the actin cortex. This is realized using microbeads trapped by holographic optical tweezers (HOTs) as scaffold for the actin filaments. more