Controlling Organization and Dynamics in Fluid Interfaces

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Professor Gary Blanchard of Michigan State University is supported by the Analytical and Surface Chemistry program to construct and then optically characterize a set of monolayer and bilayer fluid interfaces. Hybrid lipid bilayer structures have been created and characterized for over a decade, however, there is still a great deal unknown regarding relationships between membrane composition and physical properties. The PI seeks to establish a linked set of time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopic and imaging measurements in order to extract information about the local environment and its dynamics via fluorescent probes. The optical approaches include epifluorescence microscopy, photobleaching experiments and two-photon fluorescence experiments. The work is being done in collaboration with Prof. Pawel Kryskinski of the Polish Academy of Sciences.Control over rationally constructed mono- and bi-layer fluid interfaces will benefit biotechnology, biosensor development and efforts to make artificial cell mimicks. These experiments provide fundamental underpinnings for applications such as drug delivery and medical implants.