CPM Seminar

Soft Materials: Dynamic Phospholipid Films on Micro- and Nanostructured Solid Supports

Ilja Czolkos

Department of Physics
McGill University

Biological cell membranes are highly relevant objects of study since they are hosting key functions involved in a multitude of diseases. Surface-supported phospholipid mono- and bilayers are cell membrane model systems and have therefore received increased attention in the recent years. Their small-scale, reduced dimensionality, and plentiful opportunities for functionalisation render such model systems advantageous. Molecules in such phases of reduced dimensionality are restricted in mobility, and orientational order can be imposed upon them. Therefore, there is an increasing interest in using liquid crystalline media as mobile phases in two-dimensional nanofluidic systems.

I will present some of the key advances that we have made in order to establish and functionalise dynamic phospolipid monolayers on solid supports and how we can interrogate chemical reactions occurring within them with single-molecule imaging techniques. By utilising basic micro- and nanomachining techniques, the substrates for phospolipid monolayers can be patterned down to the according length scale. This includes unconventional materials such as Teflon AF (amorphous fluoropolymer).

In the second part of my talk, I will focus on surface-supported lipid bilayers. I will show how these allegedly soft materials can greatly vary in softness.

References:
Czolkos et al. (2007) Nano Lett. 7, 1980-1984.
Erkan et al. (2008) Nano Lett. 8, 227-231.
Czolkos et al. (2009) Nano Lett. 9, 2482-2486.
Gözen et al. (2010) Nat. Mater. 9, 908-912.
Czolkos et al. (2011) Soft Matter 7, 6926-6933.