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Research
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| In our laboratory, we study mechanical, barrier, transport, adsorptive, and adhesive properties of artificial and real cell membranes that lead to macroscopic behaviors of biological membranes. Examples of these behaviors include viral infection, fertilization, action of anesthetics, membrane transport, and drug delivery. The softness of biological interfaces present special experimental problems associated with the fact that the core membrane component, the lipid bilayer, is fluid under physiological conditions. Therefore, we use mild micromanipulation techniques in which the pressure on the membrane can be varied by as little as one millionth of an atmosphere for measuring membrane mechanical properties and adsorption of water soluble species. We softly image the surface of the lipid bilayer using atomic force microscopy and fluorescence microscopy to examine phenomena at a range of length scales from nanometers to micrometers. For properties that can not be observed experimentally, we develop computer simulations. Please see the Longo Research Group web site for more information. |
Laboratories
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| The laboratory is equipped with two micromanipulation set-ups, a Veeco Instruments atomic force microscope, a Nanonics atomic force and near field scanning optical microscope, microscope set-up for quantitative fluorescence, ultrafast and sensitive Hamamatsu CCD camera, microscopes equipped with Langmuir troughs for imaging monolayers, and equipment and supplies for preparing membrane samples. |
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