Seeing membranes through new eyes.
© 2011 EPFL
Label-free spectroscopic detection of vesicles in water using vibrational sum frequency scattering.
Cell membranes are astonishingly complex systems of lipids, proteins, carbohydrates and other components, which are often distributed asymmetrically between the exterior and interior bilayer leaflets of the cell membrane. To link the biological function of membrane to the building blocks of nature, one usually modifies the membrane with fluorophores, or makes use of model systems. In doing so, the original membrane and the environment is dramatically altered. The lab of Prof. Sylvie Roke (LBP - Laboratory for fundamental BioPhotonics) has shown that asymmetry and chemical composition of the bilayers of vesicles is possible in situ, and label free by means of nonlinear light scattering spectroscopy.