Dissecting cell membrane mechanics with DNA nanoprobes

对于许多生物过程，细胞需要施加和抵抗机械力。然而，细胞力学是如何由不同的细胞成分决定的，目前还不清楚。一个基本的问题是，与细胞骨架相比，双层膜的贡献如何。这个跨学科项目的目标是用新的纳米级探针了解细胞膜的力学。高度可调的DNA纳米结构将使双层薄膜变形，类似于AFM悬臂尖端，但只允许纳米级的薄膜扭曲。简单的荧光读出将使每个细胞的多个膜位置的高度并行分析成为可能，从而首次实现细胞膜中时空纳米力学的可视化。

For many biological processes, cells need to exert and resist mechanical forces. How cell mechanics is determined by different cellular components is, however, not understood. One fundamental question is the contribution of bilayer membranes compared to the cytoskeleton. The goal of this interdisciplinary project is to understand cell membrane mechanics with new nanoscale probes. The highly tunable DNA nanostructures will deform bilayers similar to an AFM cantilever tip yet allow for only nanoscale membrane distortions. Simple fluorescence read-out will enable highly parallel analysis of multiple membrane sites per cell leading to the first-ever visualization of spatiotemporal nanomechanics in cell membranes.