Integrative Graduate
Education and
Research Traineeship

Highlight

Two-Dimensional Supported Bilayer Extractor

Biomembrane microfluidic Device for the Separation of Cell Membrane Species

Projects:

IGERT: Flexible Electronics For Biological and Life...

Institution:

Cornell University - Endowed

Primary Strategic Goal:

Discovery: Foster research that will advance the frontiers of knowledge, emphasizing areas of greatest opportunity and potential benefit and establishing the Nation as a global leader in fundamental transformational science and engineering.

Secondary Strategic Goal:

Research Infrastructure: Build the Nation's research capability through critical investments in advanced instrumentation, facilities, cyber infrastructure, and experimental tools.

Achievement/Results

Prof. Susan Daniel and her team at Cornell University have developed a new approach for identifying the critical associations of cell membrane species with specific membrane types, so-called lipid “raft” domains enriched in cholesterol and specific lipid molecules. Current competing approaches introduce artifacts that can make it hard to determine the native membrane microenvironment of membrane species for maximum biological activity.

Address Goals

This development could lead to practical applications ranging from separating cell membrane species in native conformations for structural studies to development of new classes of tunable biosensors. This research was supported by the NSF’s Flexebio IGERT program at Cornell University.