Papers – Page 4 – TechConnect Briefs

Crowded Charge in Biological Ion Channels

Gillespie D., Nonner W., Eisenberg R.S., Univ. of Miami School of Medicine, US

Biological ion channels are devices very much like FETs, but conduct ions with chemical properties that are usually described by quantum mechanics (that is, delocalization of electrons between ion and channel protein). In the last [...]

Brownian Dynamics Based Particle Mesh Simulation of Ionic Soulutions and Channels

Millar C., Asenov A., Roy S., Glasgow University, UK

We present a methods based around the Self Constistent solution of the coupled Langevin/Poisson equations for the simulation of ionic solutions.

Dynamical Properties of Supported Membrane Junctions

Kaizuka Y., Groves J.T., University of California-Berkeley, US

We have recently introduced a supported membrane junction system. The junction consists of a conventional supported bilayer membrane, on top of which a second bilayer membrane is deposited by rupture of a giant vesicle. This [...]

Electrostatic Force Microscopy Study of Open-Circuit Photovoltage from a bR/ITO Heterostructure

Crittenden S., Hillebrecht J., Howell S., Birge R.R., Reifenberger R., Purdue University, US

Bioelectronics offers a potential alternative to Si-based technology because natural evolution and selection have optimized many biological molecules to perform tasks that can only be mimicked by complicated electronic circuits. Purple membrane (PM) patches containing [...]

Nanofiber Structures as Mimics for Cellular Membranes

Doktycz M.J., Zhang L., Melechko A.V, Klein K., McKnight T.E., Britt P.F., Guillorn M.A., Merkulov V.I., Lowndes D.H., Simpson M.L., Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US

We are investigating the use of vertically aligned carbon nanofibers (VACNFs) as a material for controlling molecular transport in a manner analogous to natural cell membranes. VACNFs can be synthesized with nanometer scale dimensions, can [...]

Fabrication of Nanopipes using Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanofiber Templates and their Properties

Melechko A.V, McKnight T.E., Guillorn M.A., Ilic B., Merkulov V.I., Doktycz M.J., Warmac B., McCorkle D., Lowndes D.H., Simpson M.L., University of Tennessee, Knoxville, US

Fluidic structures with submicron dimensions have potential applications for sorting DNA molecules, electroanalytical sensing, and detecting and characterizing single molecule events. The fabrication of devices that function on the nanometer scale requires new approaches when [...]

Biomimetic Surface Composite Effects Achieved by Interfering Laser Beams

Liu K.W., Liu Z.F., Daniel C., Liu K.W., Liu Z.F., Mücklich F., Saarland University, DE

It is observed from nature that certain insects possess the optimised surface fixing configurations against sliding and the tree body consists of different kinds of micro/nano-tissues with optimised properties to prevent breaking by wind. The [...]

Structure-Function Relations in Self-Assembled Sphingolipids at Gas-Water Interfaces

Vaknin D., Ames Lab, and Iowa State University, US

The development in understanding cell membrane structure and function has been historically intertwined with that of the monomolecular Langmuir layer of amphiphiles at air-aqueous interfaces. Here, we present synchrotron structural studies of a variety of [...]

A Glucose Biosensor using Au Nanoparticle Modified Glucose Oxidase

Meng X., Ren X., Tang F., Chinese Academy of Sciences, CN

Biosensors have a wide field of potential applications in biotechnology, process control and medicine, mainly for accurate measurement of the analyte concentration of physiological fluid to diagnose some diseases. The development of enzyme-based biosensor technology [...]

MembraneChipTM : Arrays of Natively Displayed Membrane Targets for Novel Drug Discovery

Yamazaki V., Nguyen L.T., Schafer R.J., Ulman N., Groves J.T., Proteomic Systems, Inc., US

For the first time, naturally fluid and functional biological membranes have been integrated into a scaleable system. Previously-inaccessible membrane targets can be presented in their native environment. Domains of membrane targets naturally displayed in cell [...]