Shape Deformations of Giant Unilamellar Vesicles with a Laser Tweezer Array

摘要

Vesicles are phospholipid bilayers that form a surface enclosing a volume of water or solution. They are of importance as model systems to study cells, as well as having practical applications such as containers for performing nanochemistry and facilitating drug delivery. Their properties have been studied for decades. Using a holographic laser tweezer array (LTA), which converts a single laser beam into many laser tweezer points, we stretch the vesicles in controlled ways from several points at once, measuring each force applied. Here, we present data on shape deformations of simple, spherical vesicles and on membrane fracture.