Hybrid static/fluidic synthetic substrates as a platform for quantitative studies of the immunological synapse (IS)

• Antragsteller: Privatdozent Dr. Theobald Lohmüller
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Biophysik
• Förderung: Förderung von 2008 bis 2011
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 102315069

The ultimate aim of this project is the development of an innovative biomimetic platform which combines a static and dynamic component suitable for quantitative studies on living cells. This system will be realized by deposition of supported lipid bilayers (SLB) between hexagonal arrays of gold nanoparticles which are further functionalized with specific ligands and receptor molecules. In this particular project, intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) will be bound to the particles, which represents the static component, while membrane-linked major histocompatibility complex molecules (MHCs) are able to diffuse within the lipid bilayer. The system thus represents a model of an antigen presenting cell (APC) that allows probing how spatial organization of adhesion molecules controls cellular activation and the quantification of these effects on signalling. With an application to immune cell studies, this project will give new insights into the physical mechanism and the functional importance of ICAM-1 – pMHC interplay for immunological synapse formation.

• DFG-Verfahren: Forschungsstipendien
• Internationaler Bezug: USA
• Gastgeber: Professor Dr. Jay T. Groves