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SUMMARY:The many faces of emulsion droplets - Jasna Brujic\, NYU
DTSTART:20131114T113000Z
DTEND:20131114T123000Z
UID:TALK47554@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Catherine Pearson
DESCRIPTION:Emulsion droplets are a versatile system whose interactions ca
 n be tuned to mimic cellular\nfunctions\, such as domain formation\, adhes
 ion or hemifusion. For example\, immiscible lipids\non the surface of emul
 sion droplets create stable patterns of circular or stripy domains\,\nremi
 niscent of lipid rafts in cell membranes. Functionalizing the lipids with 
 biotins allows\nthem to bind to each other either irreversibly through str
 eptavidin or reversibly through\ncomplementary DNA strands. We show that t
 hese mobile adhesion patches self-assemble\nlinear chains of thermal dropl
 ets into compact structures\, such as flowers. The size of\nadhesion is pr
 edicted by the balance between the binding energy and the energy of\ndefor
 mation of the droplets. Applying an external pressure to the system streng
 thens\nadhesions\, which highlights the importance of homeostatic pressure
  on cell-cell adhesion and\ntissue integrity in vivo. Alternatively\, func
 tionalizing the lipids with E-cadherin proteins\nunexpectedly leads to dro
 plets fusing together up to a given droplet size.\nMicroscopically\, we fi
 nd that the lateral cis-interaction of cadherins clusters them into rings\
 nupon adhesion\, which in turn ruptures the adjacent lipid monolayers to c
 ause fusion.\nEmulsions are therefore not only a new class of liquid patch
 y particles for self-assembly\, but\nalso a model system for important pro
 blems in biophysics.
LOCATION:Open Plan Area\, BP Institute\, Madingley Rise CB3 0EZ
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