Atomic Force Microscopy of Hybrid Bilayer Membranes

Published

February 1, 2000

Author(s)

John T. Woodward IV

Abstract

Hybrid bilayer membranes (HBM) are synthetic membrane mimics designed to form a biomimetic surface. The basic HBM system consists of a lipid monolayer adsorbed to an alkanethiol self-assembled monolayer. More advanced versionshave used different thiolates in the base layer and cell membranes for the top layer. Atomic force microscopy has been used to probe the kinetics of how these layers form as well as assess the final structure. As a local probe of the surface the AFMprovides information complementary to non-local probes such as IR spectroscopy, electrochemistry and small angle neutron scattering. By combining these techniques we are able to better understand HBM formation and exploit this knowledge to better engineer these surfaces for applications in tissue engineering and the study of membrane proteins.As an example the AFM image below shows a COS cell membrane hybrid with a mixed alkanethiol/lipid underlayer. The dark blue areas are low and the white areas are high. The AFM was used to make holes in the HBM. The hole on the left goes through the entire hybrid bilayer and is 5.3 nm deep while the one on the right only goes through on the top (COS cell membrane) layer and is 2.3 nm deep.

Proceedings Title

Sigma Xi Post Doctoral Poster Presentations, 2000

Conference Dates

February 17-18, 2000

Conference Title

Sigma Xi Web Page

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

atomic force microscopy, HBM, HBM formation, hybrid bilayer membranes

Citation

Woodward, J. (2000), Atomic Force Microscopy of Hybrid Bilayer Membranes, Sigma Xi Post Doctoral Poster Presentations, 2000 (Accessed September 11, 2026)

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