An in vitro system for 2.45 GHz microwave (MW) exposure with real-time fluorescence measurements is proposed. This system is specifically designed for the measurement of those biophysical parameters of living cells or membrane models which can be quantified by spectrofluorometric methods (e.g. membrane generalized polarization (GP), membrane fluidity, membrane potential, etc.). The novelty of the system consists in the possibility to perform fluorescence

The numerous properties of liposomes, i.e., nontoxicity, biodegradability, and their ability to encapsulate different biological active substances in aqueous and lipid phase, make them perfect models of biomembranes. Liposomes made up of phospholipids may be used to study new applications such as cell targeting or, under specific experimental conditions, may be applied in micro and nano-sized biosensors. This study demonstrates the capability of

Microbial rhodopsins, which constitute a family of seven-helix membrane proteins with retinal as a prosthetic group, are distributed throughout the Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaryota1-3. This family of photoactive proteins uses a common structural design for two distinct functions: light-driven ion transport and phototaxis. The sensors activate a signal transduction chain similar to that of the two-component system of eubacterial chemotaxis4. The link

The process of cell seeding on biocompatible scaffolds has a major impact on the morphological evolution of an engineered tissue because it involves all the key factors of tissue formation: cells, matrix, and their mutual interactions. In order to characterize the efficiency of cell seeding techniques, mainly static parameters are used such as cell density, cell distribution, and cell viability. Here, we present an experimental model that incorporates

Many biological processes take place in close proximity to lipid membranes. For a detailed understanding of the underlying mechanisms, tools are needed for the quantitative characterization of such biomolecular interactions. In this work, we describe the development of methods addressing the dynamics and affinities of protein complexes attached to an artificial membrane system. A semisynthetic approach provides the Ras protein with palmitoyl anchors,