Physics Colloquium - Spring 2009 - Erin D. Sheets - University of Minnesota
Dept of Physics & Astronomy
University of Maine, Orono, Maine
Presents
Erin D. Sheets, Associate Professor
Department of Pharmacy Practice and Pharmaceutical Sciences
University of Minnesota
Life as a lipid: rafts, dynamics and interactions
Molecular ordering of lipids within biomembranes can profoundly influence the local biophysical properties, such as diffusion, permeability and fluidity. These properties, in turn, may affect membrane protein activity, transient compartmentalization, and trafficking of vesicular compartments. We are studying various aspects of these properties in living cells and biomimetic membranes. In particular, we are using fluorescence imaging and correlation spectroscopy to investigate the effects of annexin binding to biomimetic membranes. Annexin A5, a peripheral intracellular protein, binds specifically and tightly to anionic membranes in the presence of calcium. Membrane binding controls annexin self-organization, which in turn affects the membrane organization and transport in a lipid-specific manner. These biomimetic studies complement our fluorescence lifetime and polarization anisotropy imaging studies of the spatiotemporal dynamics of nanodomain interactions associated with immunoreceptor signaling in RBL mast cells. These experimental approaches should be directly applicable to any signaling pathway that may be dependent upon local membrane ordering.
Friday, September 25, 2009
3:10 p.m.
137 Bennett Hall
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