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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 11: Posters: Cytoskeleton

BP 11.4: Poster

Tuesday, April 1, 2014, 09:30–12:30, P1

Visco-elastic properties of artificial biopolymer networks — •Matthias Koch, Dominic Ruh, and Alexander Rohrbach — Lab for Bio- and Nano-Photonics, University of Freiburg, Georges-Koehler- Allee 102, 79110 Freiburg, Germany

Microtubules (MT) are biopolymers which self-organize over a large spatial and temporal scale in living cells as a response to a variety of external stimuli. Most of the highly complex intracellular processes like cell-division or mechanotransduction are based on MT networks. The mechanical properties of single biopolymers like actin filaments or microtubules have already been studied in a wide context. However, the role of the meshwork geometry on the transport of mechanical momentum in a two dimensional MT network has not been studied so far.

Optical tweezers allow generating an array of anchor points for artificial polymer networks consisting of fluorescently labelled MT filaments attached to optically trapped 1μm spheres. We use multiple time-multiplexed optical traps which are displaced at rates up to 50kHz for both 3D force generation and measurements. The positions of the trapped particles can be evaluated using back focal plane interferometry, allowing resolving momentum propagation through the network. This configuration allows probing the visco-elastic properties of biopolymers in synthesized networks in a bottom-up approach and might reveal deeper insights in their complex interaction as part of the cytoskeleton. Results from first experiments with fluorescently labelled MT filaments attached to optically trapped 1μm spheres are presented.