Atomic Force Microscope and Cell Biology: The mechanical properties from the membrane to the interior of the cell

Charles Roduit

ISBN 10: 3639187202 / ISBN 13: 9783639187205

Published by VDM Verlag, 2009

About this Item

120 pages. 8.50x5.91x0.47 inches. In Stock. This item is printed on demand.

Seller Inventory # 3639187202

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Atomic Force Microscope and Cell Biology: The mechanical properties from the membrane to the interior of the cell
• Publisher: VDM Verlag
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3639187202
• ISBN 13: 9783639187205
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 0.2 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

This book describes the doctoral thesis where we explore the mechanical properties of living cells using the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). The cell membrane contains lipids microdomains, called rafts, enriched in cholesterol and sphingolipids. The lipid rafts are believed to play an important role in signal processing by acting as a ¿signaling platform¿. The mechanical properties of these rafts were characterized by targeting one of its component, the GPI-anchored protein. This work revealed these domains to be stiffer than the surrounding membrane. The stiffness specificity of rafts may be related to the lower diffusion rate of proteins and can be, therefore, an important property for its role as a signaling platform. During this thesis, we also introduced a new AFM imaging mode, which we called ¿stiffness tomography¿. With this imaging mode, we were able to distinguish stiff materials inclusion located into the sample. A significant part of this project was the development of a post-processing software to automate the computations of the acquired data. In this book we describes the algorithms used in the open-source version of this software.

About the Author

Charles Roduit obtained his Master in Biology in the University of Lausanne and his Phd in Neurosciences in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL). He performed one year training at the EMBL and currently has a post doctoral position at the EPFL to continue the study of the mechanical properties of living cells with AFM.